DiviSiOi 
Section 


A  DEVOTIONAL  COMMENTARY 

|ON  THE 

GOSPEL  OF  ST.  JOH 


y 


BT 


McVeigh  harrison,  o.h.^^^ 


ARRANGED  FOR  DAILY  MEDITATIONS, 

OR  SPIRITUAL  READINGS, 

FROM  ADVENT  SUNDAY  TO  THE 

END  OF  WHITSUNTIDE 


PUBLISHED  AT  THE 

ST.  ANDREW'S  BOOK  SHOP 

ST.  ANDREWS  P.  O. 

TENNESSEE 


Copyright  1919 

By  McVeigh  Harrison,  O.H.C. 

West  Park,  New  York. 


DEDICATED  TO 

MRS.  JOHN  H.  GARTH 

A  DEAR  AND  FAITHFUL  FRIEND  BOTH 

OF  THE  WRITER  AND  OF 

ST.  ANDREW'S 

SINCE  OUR  RESPECTIVE  BEGINNINGS 

IN  THE  WORLD 


PREFACE 


THIS  small  volume  might  have  been  called 
"The  Divine  Charity,"  for  the  love  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  us  is  its  subject  throughout.  One  who 
follows  St.  John  at  all,  I  find,  cannot  choose  but 
adopt  this  theme,  for  it  recurs  in  some  form  or  appli- 
cation not  only  in  every  chapter  of  his  Gospel,  but 
in  many  individual  words  and  phrases,  the  selection 
of  which  must  have  been  the  care  of  his  long  lifetime. 
The  title  I  have  actually  chosen  is  simply  the  most 
accurate  I  could  think  of.  For  the  past  two  years 
I  have  been  trying  to  follow  out  the  main  hnes  of 
our  Blessed  Saviour's  Life  and  teaching  as  the 
Apostle  of  Love  has  revealed  them  to  us,  and  then 
to  use  these  for  my  own  meditations  and  for  con- 
ferences and  retreats.  I  wish  it  were  true  to  say 
that  I  have  been  living  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  which  is  really  only  the  true  atmos- 
phere of  the  Religious  Life,  and  which  would  be  the 
best  preparation  for  writing  these  pages.  But  in 
spite  of  the  many  imperfections  of  my  study,  it  has 
disclosed  so  much  that  was  wonderfully  helpful  in  the 
Sacred  Text,  that  I  determined  to  draft  the  material 
in  my  note-books  into  the  form  of  brief,  expository 
meditations  or  readings.  For  my  experience  with 
people  who  are  practising  regular  mental  prayer  has 


PREFA CE 


indicated  that  it  would  be  helpful  for  them  if  they 
could  take  for  the  "matter"  of  their  meditations  a 
particular  Gospel  and  follow  it  through.  Few,  how- 
ever, can  spare  time  to  work  out  the  exegesis  of  a 
passage  daily,  or  even  to  read  a  chapter  explaining 
it,  and  to  these  busy  folk  my  humble  offering  is  made. 
It  is  a  "commentary"  on  the  Gospel  of  St.  John, 
only  in  the  sense  that  it  presents  in  substance  the 
interpretation,  by  great  scholars,  ancient  and  modern, 
of  the  Beloved  Disciple's  revelation  of  our  Lord.  Many 
particular  verses  are  not  noticed,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  difficult  text  is  left  without  the  explana- 
tion which  has  satisfied  me. 

My  obligations  are  manifold;  but  apart  from  my 
great  debt  to  the  Fathers,  I  owe  most  to  Bishop 
Westcott  and  Dr.  Plummer  for  their  Commentaries. 
To  Rev.  Dr.  G.  H.  Morrison  I  am  grateful  for  some 
very  suggestive  sermons  on  texts  from  the  writings  of 
St.  John. 

McVeigh  Harrison,  O.  H.  C. 


St  Andrew's  Day,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

CITATIONS  PACE 

St.  John  i :  1-14 i 

St.  John  i :  15-36 13 

St.  John  i:  37-44 25 

St.  John  i :  45-51 34 

St.  John  ii :  i-i  i 45 

St.  John  ii :  12-25 57 

St.  John  iii :  1-15 68 

St.  John  iii :  16-36 75 

St.  John  iv :  1-42 83 

St.  John  iv  :  43-v  :  20 92 

St.  John  V :  21-47 101 

St.  John  vi :  1-23 106 

St.  John  vi :  24-71 no 

St.  John  vii 119 

St.  John  viii 127 

St.  John  ix 136 

St.  John  X 144 

St.  John  xi :  1-52 155 

St.  John  xi :  53-xii 162 

St.  John  xiii 172 

St.  John  xir 181 

St.  John  XT 191 

St.  John  xvi 202 

St.  John  xviii 215 

St.  John  XX 234 

St.  Johnxxi 251 


ABBREVIATIONS  USED 

A.  V.= Authorized  (King  James')  Version. 

A  V.  Marg.="  Marginal  Readings     edition  of  the  Authorized 

Version, 
R.  V.=  Revised  Version,  Oxford  edition. 
R,  V.  Marg.=marginal  reading  of  the  Revised  Version 
f.=  thc  next  Terse  in  addition  to  the  one  cited. 
ff.=  the  next  two  verses  in  addition  to  the  one  cited. 
Single  quotation  marks  ('  ')  indicate  a  literal  translation,  unless 

explained  in  the  text  as  inclosing  a  parapharse. 
All  citations  are  inclusive  of  the  last  verse  cited. 


SAINT  JOHN 

— 1».  .  . 
W^t  iFiwt  Wieek  in  aubrnt*  Read  St.  John  i :  1-14 

^oli'0  Hobr  ^toopiB  to  t|)e  Sncarnation 

The  Beloved  Disciple  has  for  the  supreme  motive 
of  his  Gospel  to  tell  us  how  Jesus  Christ  revealed  His 
Deity.  Only  second  to  this  is  his  purpose  to  teach  us 
God's  love  for  us  and  to  win  our  full  response. 
Therefore,  in  his  Prologue,  he  sets  forth  the  infinite 
Charity  which  brought  God  to  take  upon  Him  His 
creatures'  nature.  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 
And  then,  ''the  Word  was  made  Flesh."  Even  in  the 
very  beginning  when  the  universe  was  made  by  the 
Word  of  God,  He  was,  from  all  eternity  (Gen.  i:  3,  6, 
9,  etc.).  Yet  He  accepted  birth  of  a  woman.  He 
united  to  Himself  a  Manhood  which  was  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  time  and  space,  which  could  grow  weary, 
and  suffer  and  die.  How  infinite,  how  almighty,  must 
be  that  Love  of  God  which  made  Him  willing  to 
become  a  Little  Baby ! 

Moreover,  St.  John  brings  before  us  a  second  great 
paradox  of  this  ineffable  charity,  when  he  says  that 
"the  Word  was  made  Flesh,  and  dwelt,"  or,  literally, 
"tabernacled,"  "among  us."  For  in  this  he  identifies 
the  Word  with  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Covenant,  Who 


SAINT  JOHN 


''tabernacled"  with  His  ancient  people  in  the  Tent  of 
Meeting,  and  afterwards,  in  their  Sanctuary  (Exodus 
xiv:  24;  xl:  34;  i  Kings  viii:  11).  But  how  incom- 
parably more  tender  was  it  when  this  same  dear  God 
came  and  "tabernacled"  among  us,  not  in  a  Pillar  of 
Fire  and  Cloud,  but  in  our  own  Human  Nature,  to 
reveal  Divine  Wisdom  to  us  with  Human  Lips,  and  to 
love  us  with  a  Human  Heart! 

Finally,  He  Who  was  **in  the  beginning"  ivas  made 
Man.  Is  it  not  unspeakably  wonderful  that  He  Whose 
Life  is  immutable  should  have  condescended  to  accept 
a  nature  subject  to  the  processes  of  change?  He  Who 
is  **the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever"  submitted 
to  become  Flesh  in  order  that  He  might  know  by  expe- 
rience all  the  vicissitudes  of  our  human  life,  from  first 
to  last.  Surely  God  could  not  have  challenged  us,  in 
more  compelling  ways,  to  respond  to  His  love. 

^%z  WiiXx^twtSi  to  Ct)rt)3t 

The  Fourth  Gospel  opens  with  the  most  explicit  and 
extended  teaching  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  Christ 
is  God,  and  it  reaches  a  climax  in  St.  Thomas'  confes- 
sion of  the  Risen  Jesus:  *'My  Lord  and  my  God" 
(xx:  28).  On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the  first  three 
Gospels  is  so  explicit  in  displaying  the  limitations  of 
our  Saviour's  Manhood;  and  St.  John  is  unique,  apart 
from  St.  Paul,  in  sometimes  referring  to  our  Lord  by 
the  Greek  word  for  "man"  which  indicates  a  poor  peas- 
ant rather  than  by  that  which  suggests  a  gentleman. 
His  two  great,  fundamental  truths,  about  Christ,  there- 
fore, are:   that  He  is  "God,  Only-begotten,"  and  that 


SAINT  JOHN 


He  is  the  '^Son  of  Man"  (i:  i8  A.  V.  Marg. ;  i:5i). 
The  Apostle  of  Love  would  have  us  understand  that 
God  has  had  part  and  lot  with  all  of  us  ordinary  folk. 
In  riches,  social  standing  and  temporal  power,  He 
deliberately  chose  to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  lowly. 

There  was  less  need  to  urge  the  reality  of  Christ's 
Manhood  than  to  insist  upon  His  Deity.  For  this  lat- 
ter, St.  John  sets  forth  seven  proofs,  being  the  witness 
to  Christ:  (i)  of  the  Father,  (2)  of  Jesus  Himself, 
(3)  of  Flis  miracles,  (4)  of  the  Old  Testament,  (5)  of 
St.  John  Baptist,  (6)  of  the  disciples,  and  (7)  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  ( v :  37 ;  viii :  14 ;  v :  36 ;  v :  39  f . ;  i :  7 ;  xv  : 
2^ ;  XV :  26) .  Thus  the  Apostle  of  Love  was  theological, 
definite  and  dogmatic  in  asserting  the  true  Faith.  There 
is  a  widespread  impression  in  our  day  that  love  must 
be  tolerant  of  error,  even  about  our  Lord,  and  amiably 
willing  to  dilute  the  truth  until  our  weaker  brethren 
can  receive  it.  But  true  charity  towards  Jesus  and  our 
fellowmen  dictates  that  we  hold  the  Catholic  Faith 
pure  as  He  committed  it  to  us  for  them,  an  inviolable 
trust. 

It  is  profoundly  impressive  that  such  a  Gospel,  hav- 
ing for  its  principal  purpose  to  defend  the  truth  of  our 
Lord's  Dual  Nature,  should  have  been  written  by  the 
last  of  the  Apostles.  For  sixty  years  he  had  endured 
the  trials,  sufiFerings  and  dangers  which  beset  the  Apos- 
tolic Church.  One  might  have  thought  that  sad  expe- 
rience would  have  dimmed  his  faith,  either  in  the 
Godhead  of  Christ  with  its  attribute  of  almighty  Power 
to  defend  His  people,  or  else  in  the  reality  of  His  Man- 
hood and  of  the  human  experience  which  would  fill 
Him  with  pity  for  them.  But  this  aged  prisoner  of 
state,  fresh  from  the  stone  quarries  of  Patmos,  sur- 
rounded by  the  apparently  unconquerable   forces  of 


SAINT  JOHN 


evil  in  Ephesus,  proclaims  his  faith  in  the  God-Man 
with  absolute  certainty.  He  has  learned  cumulatively, 
by  the  triumphs  of  three-score  years,  that  no  darkness, 
however  deep,  can  overcome  the  Light  of  Life  (i:  5). 
It  **shineth"  with  but  greater  radiance  of  power  and 
love,  amid  gloom,  be  it  the  gloom  of  First  Century 
Asia  Minor  or  that  of  Twentieth  Century  America. 


W^z  iFourtI)  fioispel  ^peciall?  for  ^oHern  C|)ni3ttan0 

The  Light  from  the  Word  is  ever  coming  to  the 
Church  in  greater  volume  and  radiance,  so  that  a  later 
generation  is  able  to  understand  the  original  deposit 
of  truth  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  better,  and  to  discern 
in  it  new  relations  to  men  and  things.  Thus,  St.  John, 
writing  his  Gospel  in  95  a.d.,  saw  that  the  world  of  his 
day  and  of  the  future  demanded  a  presentation  of  our 
Lord's  life  and  teaching  which  would  in  ways  be  differ- 
ent from  the  treatment  of  the  three  older  Evangelists. 
Therefore,  he  records  no  miracles  of  Christ  except 
those  which  all  generations  would  value  supremely  as 
proving  the  power  of  the  Master  over  their  very  own 
times  and  conditions.  He  gives  us  no  account  of  the 
many  miracles  wrought  by  Jesus  for  the  cure  of  lepers 
and  those  possessed  with  evil  spirits.  From  his  proph- 
et's watch-tower,  looking  out  over  the  coming  ages,  he 
foresaw  that  there  would  be  few  demoniacs  or  lepers 
in  those  western  lands  into  which  the  Gospel  was  so 
rapidly  advancing.  But  there  would  be  poverty,  dis- 
ease, hunger,  storm  winds,  blindness  and  death,  and, 
therefore,  he  tells  us  of  the  way  in  which  the  God-Man 
showed  His  supreme  Power  over  every  one  of  these 


SAINT  JOHN 


destructive  forces.  For,  as  we  can  see  by  looking  rap- 
idly through  his  Gospel,  he  records  seven  miracles 
wherein  our  Lord  relieved  His  people  from  these  uni- 
versal evils. 

Again,  it  is  a  notable  vice  in  our  modern  religious 
practice,  that  we  are  disposed  to  regard  all  righteous- 
ness as  external  and  as  consisting  entirely  in  right 
conduct  and  good  works.  Now  St.  John  would  teach 
us  that  the  spiritual  life  is  primarily  interior  and  hid- 
den. For  he  discloses  to  us  our  Lord's  motives  and 
plans,  the  dependence  of  His  Human  Heart  upon  His 
Father,  and  His  craving  love  of  men.  He  had  lain 
upon  the  Lord's  Breast  and  learned  heavenly  secrets 
from  the  very  Soul  of  his  Master.  Rightly,  therefore, 
his  Gospel  is  called  "The  History  of  the  Inner  Life 
of  Jesus  Christ."  And  through  it  he  would  bring 
home  to  us  the  ancient  truth  that  "what  we  do  springs 
from  what  we  are." 

Finally,  the  Church  to-day  seems  to  be  facing  a  very 
gloomy  future.  There  are  traitors  within  her  and  as- 
sailants without.  The  last  of  the  Apostles  has  much 
comfort  for  us  in  this  discouraging  situation.  For, 
in  a  passage  which  the  great  interpreters  attribute  to 
him,  as  his  comment  on  Church  conditions  in  a.d.  95, 
he  tells  us  that  'no  man  was  receiving  the  testimony 
of  Christ'  (iii:32).  "The  whole  world,"  as  he  de- 
clares elsewhere,  "lieth  in  the  Evil  One"  (i  St.  John 
v:  19).  It  has  been  truly  said  that  "the  close  of  the 
apostolic  age  was  a  period  of  singular  darkness  and 
hopelessness."  But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Christians 
were  refusing  to  receive  the  Gospel,  and  that  there  was 
even  less  decency  in  that  Ephesian  world  than  there 
is  in  the  American  world  of  to-day,  the  Fourth  Gospel 
is  the  most  hopeful  and  joyful  of  all.    Let  us  then,  like 


SAINT  JOHN 


St.  John,  be  invincible  optimists,  relying  upon  Him 
who  said  that  the  gates  of  Hell  should  not  prevail 
against  His  Church. 

%\i  Jpit0t  dflletine^tia^  in  )^tibent 

^|)e  Incarnation  i%  of  dupreme  lvalue 

St.  John  alone  among  the  Evangelists  begins  his 
Gospel  with  a  summary  of  our  Lord's  Incarnate  Life, 
rather  than  with  His  Nativity.  Even  in  the  three 
earlier  Gospels,  however,  and  in  the  Epistles,  it  is 
astonishing  how  little  space  Christ's  Birth  occupies, 
v^^en  we  consider  how  lovely  and  appealing  it  is.  We 
would  have  thought  that  many  long  chapters  and 
probably  whole  Epistles  would  have  been  devoted  to 
descriptions  of  the  dear  God  lying  in  the  cave  with 
the  cattle,  His  Hands,  which  had  hung  out  the  Stars, 
now  playing  with  a  little  straw.  But,  in  fact,  even  our 
Lord  Himself  never  referred  explicitly  to  His  Birth, 
nor  would  He  say  that  He  was  born  in  the  City  of 
David  even  when  challenged  to  do  so.  And,  at  the 
end  of  the  first  Christian  century,  when  St.  John  wrote, 
it  had  become  true,  all  the  more,  that  the  thing  which 
seemed  to  Christians  to  be  of  supreme  importance  was 
not  the  Divine  Baby  in  the  manger,  but  God  Incarnate. 
The  beginning  in  time  of  His  Human  Life  was  but  one 
supereminently  luminouis  point  in  the  glorious  eternity 
of  His  Being.  Let  us  never  so  lose  ourselves  in  the 
sweetness  and  pathos  of  the  Christmas  Crib,  that  we 
fail  to  see  in  Him  Who  lies  there  Emmanuel,  God 
with  us. 

It  is  this  gift  of  the  eternally  preexistent  Christ 
which  is  the  unparalleled  proof  of  Perfect  Love.    To 


SAINT  JOHN 


this  sacrifice  of  God's  Own  and  His  All,  we  owe  that 
certainty  of  His  Providence  which  can  bear  us  up  in 
our  suffering.  Once  it  seemed  obvious  on  the  face  of 
the  visible  order  that  we  men  were  the  favorite  crea- 
tures of  God.  We  supposed  that  our  earth  was  the 
center  of  the  solar  system.  The  countless  orbs  of 
Heaven  were  thought  to  revolve  about  us  and  were 
principally  for  the  welfare  of  our  race.  But  modern 
astronomy  has  revealed  that  there  are  four  thousand 
million  suns  as  large  as  ours,  or  larger.  This  world  is 
only  an  atom  of  dust  on  the  outskirts  of  creation.  \i 
it  were  not  that  God  has  sought  out  our  tiny,  dark, 
cold,  earth,  and  taken  our  nature  upon  Him  forever, 
we  could  not  be  sure  of  His  love  at  the  very  times  we 
need  Him  most. 

But  it  is  equally  true  that,  in  our  prosperity,  the 
great  spiritual  uplift  which  alone  can  save  us  from 
materialism  is  the  life  of  the  God-Man.  The  passen- 
ger on  one  of  our  Eastern  railways  sees  an  allegory 
of  this  truth,  as  arresting  as  if  some  modern  Jeremiah 
had  placed  it  there.  For,  as  he  speeds  along,  he  meets 
a  procession  of  huge  bill-boards,  boasting  of  all  man- 
ner of  things  for  men's  comfort  and  enjoyment.  And 
there,  marching  bravely  in  the  midst,  as  if  hoping  to 
redeem  and  transfigure  all  the  rest,  is  one  bearing  upon 
it  in  great  letters  the  glorious  boast  of  the  Church: 
"Jesus  Christ  is  God."  So  must  we  stand,  amid  the 
passing  show  of  all  this  world's  joys,  fearlessly  pro- 
claiming Incarnate  God  as  the  one  only  Glory  of  man's 
life. 


SAINT  JOHN 


%\t  JFit0t  <il|ut0lia^  in  iaiDbent 

6oli  X^t  Eternal  €ibet 

Jesus  "came  unto  His  own  [home]  and  His  own 
[people]  received  Him  not."  In  these  few  pathetic 
words,  the  Beloved  Disciple  begins  his  tragedy  of  Di- 
vine Love.  Indeed,  we  might  almost  say  that  he  makes 
three  acts,  indicated  by  the  use  here  and  just  twice 
later  in  His  Gospel  of  the  strong,  unusual  word  trans- 
lated ''received."  First,  then,  he  shows  us  God  the 
Father  giving  His  Only-begotten  to  His  people,  and 
the  Jews  refusing  to  receive  Him,  although  He  was  but 
claiming  admission  to  His  own  home.  It  is  a  rejection 
repeated  with  dull  monotony  all  through  the  succeed- 
ing ages.  For  instance,  are  there  not  many  clubs  and 
societies  in  America  which  blackball  a  certain  Appli- 
cant without  a  voice  raised  in  His  favor? 

But  there  came  a  time  when  the  Jews  did  not  reject 
Him.  Pilate  "delivered  Him  unto  them  to  be  crucified 
and  they  received  Him"  (xix:  i6).  Their  hospitality 
was  a  halter  and  a  scourge  and  a  cross.  Nor  can  we 
confine  the  guilt  of  that  Deicide  to  one  race.  It  at- 
taches to  the  Christian  nations  as  well.  How  many 
million  Christian  hearts  among  us  receive  Jesus  only 
to  crucify  Him! 

Now,  what  awful  reprisals  does  God  intend  to  take  ? 
In  return  for  our  excluding  Him  even  from  a  place  on 
earth  to  lay  His  Head,  and  then  admitting  Him  to  the 
treatment  we  mete  out  to  the  lowest  criminals.  He  will 
give  Heaven  and  eternal  life  to  all  who  will  permit 
Him  to  save  them.  He  has  gone  to  prepare  a  place  for 
us,  and  with  this  promise:  "I  will  come  again,  and 
receive  you  unto  Myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may 
be  also"   (xiv:  3).    This  is  the  dear  revenge  of  the 


SAINT  JOHN 


Eternal  Giver,  a  reception  into  an  immortality  of 
happiness  beyond  our  understanding  now,  as  the  re- 
ward for  our  making  Him  the  "very  Scorn  of  men  and 
the  Outcast  of  the  people."  Surely  such  a  revelation 
of  God's  incredible  mercy  fills  our  Advent  with  the 
challenge  of  Love,  even  more  than  with  that  of  Holy 
Fear.  Surely,  too,  it  teaches  us  what  St.  John  means 
when  he  calls  us  the  "children  of  God." 


W^t  <r|)iltirfn  of  ^oH 

Our  dear  Leader,  St.  John,  alone  among  the  Evan- 
gelists, and,  except  St.  Paul,  alone  among  the  sacred 
writers  of  the  Bible,  describes  God's  people  as  His 
"children"  by  a  Greek  word  which  expresses  actual 
relationship  (i:  12).  There  is  another  noun,  which  is 
customarily  employed  for  "children,"  and  this  means 
simply  "young  people."  Also,  St.  John  learned  his  term 
for  Christians  from  our  Lord.  Still  again,  Jesus  used 
it  for  the  first  time  the  night  before  He  suffered,  and, 
apparently,  directly  after  He  had  celebrated  the  first 
Eucharist,  and  communicated  the  nucleus  of  His 
Church  gathered  about  Him  with  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment of  His  own  Humanity  (xiii:  33).  Thus  when 
our  Apostle  calls  us  "God's  children,"  or  ''little  chil- 
dren," he  is  using  an  expression  drawn  from  our  Lord 
Himself  and  having  the  tenderest  and  most  sacred 
meaning  and  associations. 

But  we  will  understand  this  conception  of  the  Apos- 
tle of  Love  more  clearly,  if  we  trace  it  from  its  earliest 
form  in  Genesis  (vi:2).  There  first  we  read  of  the 
"sons  of  God,"  that  is,  the  better  and  more  faithful 


10  SAINT  JOHN 


line  of  Adam's  descendants.  The  thought  is  that  they 
are  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  (Gen.  i: 
26).  They  were  meant  to  walk  in  close  fellowship 
with  their  Creator,  and  to  reveal  Him,  at  least  in  a 
dim  way,  to  their  fellow-men.  This  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  word  "image"  means  really  "shadow- 
image."  As  a  man's  shadow  is  ever  by  his  side,  shows 
the  outline  of  his  figure,  and,  however  poorly,  repre- 
sents his  person,  so  the  sons  of  God  are  to  walk  hum- 
bly with  Him,  and,  albeit  imperfectly,  to  manifest  a 
similarity  to  His  Nature.  Now,  when  we  reach  St. 
Paul,  far  along  in  the  progress  of  revelation,  we  find 
that  his  most  prominent  idea  of  sonship  toward  God 
is  that  of  adoption,  through  union  with  Christ  (Eph. 
i :  5  f . ) .  The  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  knew  well 
the  power  and  privileges  springing  from  adoption,  for 
freedom  and  many  immunities  and  advantages,  in  the 
RcHnan  Empire,  had  come  to  him  through  his  having 
been  adopted  by  one  of  its  citizens  (cp.  e.g.  Acts  xxii: 
25-29) .  But  as  to  the  children  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
the  Catholic  Church,  he  considers  that  every  one  of 
them  not  only  gained  freedom  and  many  priceless 
privileges  by  his  adoption  in  Baptism,  but,  more  than 
this,  became^the  "image  and  glory"  of  the  King  (i 
Cor.  xi:  7).  It  is  in  St.  John,  however,  that  the  long 
process  reaches  its  consummation.  The  distinctive  con- 
ception of  our  relationship  to  God  in  his  writings  is 
that  of  sonship  by  actual  generation,  as  well  as  by  crea- 
tion and  by  adoption.  The  Christian  is,  in  Baptism, 
"born,"  or  literally  "begotten,"  "of  God"  (i:  13;  cp. 
I  St.  John  iii:  9). 

Now  it  is  the  way  of  us  fallen  creatures  "to  walk  in 
a  painted  image,**  and  disquiet  ourselves  foolishly  over 
temporal,  material  things    (Ps.  xxxix:6,  A.  V.  Old 


SAINT  JOHN  11 


Marg.)-  C^^r  self-love  daubs  us  over  with  the  paint 
of  false  pride.  Shall  we  not  rather  be  proud  of  our 
caste  as  the  children  of  God,  and  seek,  with  genuine 
self-love,  to  reveal  always  the  image  and  likeness  of 
Him  by  Whom  we  have  been  begotten? 


W^t  iftt^t  &aturtia^  in  i^dbent 

^race  anH  ^rut|)  ^|)rouct)  3[^0ui3 

The  Beloved  Apostle  loved  to  show  that  all  good 
things  spring  from  Jesus  as  their  Source.  For  this 
purpo'se  he  has  been  at  pains  to  include  in  his  Gospel 
those  teachings  of  his  Master  in  which  He  declared 
Himself  to  be  the  Food,  the  Light  and  the  Life  of  men, 
and  the  Fountain-head  of  ''living  water"  (vi:  48;  viii: 
12;  xiv:  6;  iv:  10).  For  life,  light,  food  and  water 
are  the  four  necessities  for  man's  physical  welfare,  and 
the  spiritual  essentials  which  our  Lord  signified  by 
these  symbols  are  all  our  souls  need  and  are  all  found 
in  Him.  St.  John  sumimarizes  the  fuller  teaching, 
however,  in  his  Prologue,  saying  simply  that  "the 
Word  made  Flesh,  is  full  of  grace  and  truth,"  where 
the  equivalent  of  spiritual  life,  food  and  drink  is  grace, 
and  the  synonym  of  the  Divine  light  is  truth. 

But  if  the  truth  in  Christ  is  light,  nothing  can  be 
hidden  from  it.  Every  evasion,  every  disloyalty,  every 
hidden  sin  of  our  souls,  lies  exposed  in  the  radiance 
of  Jesois'  gaze.  Consequently,  we  must  be  always  re- 
ceiving more  sanctifying  grace  through  the  sacraments 
to  cleanse  and  quicken  us,  and  inflame  us  with  love. 
As  St.  Bernard  says :  "Each  of  these  is  necessary  to 
me:  truth,  that  I  may  not  be  able  to  hide  myself,  grace 
that  I  may  not  desire  to."    There  is  no  stint  in  the  sup- 


12  SAINT  JOHN 


ply  of  grace.  "Of  His  fulness  have  all  we  received/* 
But  there  is  a  limit  which  we  establish  in  ourselves  if 
we  do  not  use  the  measure  bestowed  upon  us.  The 
Divine  rule  is  to  give  * 'grace  for  grace,"  that  is,  to 
give  more  when  that  already  infused  into  our  souls 
has  wrought  piety  and  good  works.  Except  for  the 
obstruction  of  our  own  self-will,  therefore,  we  would 
all  be  full  of  grace  drawn  from  our  Lord's  Soul ;  as 
the  rivers  are  filled  from  the  vast  ocean,  through  those 
sacraments  of  nature,  the  clouds. 

Continuing,  St.  John  points  to  another  motive  for 
being  avaricious  of  grace.  "The  Law  was  given 
through  Moses,"  he  says,  "but  grace  and  truth  came 
through  Jesus  Christ."  His  carefully  chosen  phrase 
''through  Moses"  indicates  that  the  Ten  Command- 
ments came  ''from  God."  He  gave  them,  moreover,  in 
a  way  to  commend  them  to  the  deepest  reverence  of 
His  people.  They  were  written  by  the  Holy  Ghost,, 
the  "Finger  of  God,"  and  delivered  to  His  great  saint 
by  the  ministry  of  the  holy  angels  (Ex.  xxxi:  i8;  St. 
Luke  xi:  20,  cp.  St.  Matt,  xii:  28;  Gal.  iii :  19).  Nor 
are  they  less  sacred,  but  rather  more,  to  the  Catholic 
Church  than  to  God's  ancient  people.  We  are,  indeed, 
more  responsible  for  keeping  them,  because,  for  one 
thing,  we  are  entrusted  with  a  far  more  complete  reve- 
lation of  the  truth.  Accordingly,  Jesus  Christ,  Him- 
self, full  of  grace,  must  come  to  us  Christians  in  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  and  endue  us  with  power  to  keep 
His  holy  Law. 


SAINT  JOHN  13 


S^c  •rcont  fflMfffe  in  aubenU  Read  St.  John  i :  15-36 

W^t  &etonti  &untia^  in  i^Ltibent 

Si^e  temptation  of  %U  3[ot)n  1Ba))ti0t 

At  the  same  time  that  our  Lord  was  enduring  His 
forty  days  of  fasting-  and  trial  on  the  mount,  His  great 
Forerunner  was  being  tempted  in  the  valley  of  the  Jor- 
dan. It  was  a  very  real  strain  upon  the  Baptist's  will 
when  the  Sanhedrists  came  to  him  offering  to  accept 
him  as  Elijah  or  as  that  greatest  of  the  prophets  fore- 
told by  Moses,  or  even  as  the  Christ.  For,  in  a  spirit- 
ual sense  he  was  Elijah.  Had  not  the  angel  prophesied 
of  him :  '*He  shall  go  before  [Christ]  in  the  spirit  and 
power  of  Elias?"  (St.  Luke  i:  17.)  And  indeed  we 
have  the  statement  of  Jesus  Himself  that  in  the  holy 
Baptist  was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  that  Elijah  would 
herald  Him  (St.  Matt,  xvii :  10-13).  He  was  the  last 
and  greatest  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  (St.  Luke 
vii:26f.).  He  may  have  known  also  that  he  had  so 
deeply  stirred  the  religious  and  patriotic  sentiments  of 
his  people  that  there  was  a  wide  disposition  to  accept 
him  as  the  Messiah  (St.  Luke  iii:i5).  Besides,  the 
committee  of  the  Sanhedrin  paid  him  a  very  great 
honor  in  waiting  upon  him,  and  at  the  same  time  made 
a  concession  to  his  claims;  for  it  was  written  in  their 
traditions  that  when  Elijah  came  he  would  first  of  all 
present  himself  before  the  Sanhedrin  to  obtain  his 
credentials.  But  St.  John  had  entirely  ignored  them, 
and,  after  waiting  for  a  time,  they  had  humbled  them- 
selves and  had  come  to  seek  him.  It  might  well  have 
seemed  to  the  Baptist  that  it  was  only  fair  to  meet 
them  half  way.  Finally,  there  were  many  ways  in 
which  he  could  have  used  the  interview  thus  sought 


14  SAINT  JOHN 


by  the  haughty  leaders  of  the  Jews  to  increase  his  al- 
ready great  popularity  and  prestige. 

Now,  we  must  observe  that  he  utterly  refused  to 
dally  with  this  multiform  temptation,  and  his  answers 
to  the  Pharisees  became  increasingly  brief  as  they 
pressed  him  to  talk  about  himself.  "Who  art  thou?" 
"I  am  not  the  Christ."  ''Art  thou  Elijah?"  "I  am 
not!"  "Art  thou  that  prophet?"  "No!"  In  the  Greek, 
it  is  as  if  he  were  biting  off  his  sentences.  The  third 
answer,  in  two  letters,  has  a  particularly  final  sound. 
The  questioners  weakened,  as  the  Baptist  thus  rebuffed 
them.  They  began  the  interview  proudly  and  boldly 
enough:  ''Thou — who  art  thou?"  is  the  literal  force 
of  their  demand.  But  their  lofty  tone  subsided  into  a 
cringing  one  before  St.  John's  determined  rejection  of 
his  temptation.  "Who  art  thou  ?"  they  begged  appeal- 
ingly.  "We  only  venture  to  ask  so  that  we  can  give 
an  answer  to  those  who  sent  us."  So  it  is  with  us. 
If  we  resolutely  refuse  to  entertain  even  the  first  sug- 
gestion of  the  Devil,  he  will  cower,  and  presently  flee 
before  us. 

Our  Evangelist  twice  in  one  doubly  emphatic  state- 
ment says  of  his  Namesake,  that  the  Baptist  "con- 
fessed." In  the  Fouirth  Gospel  this  word  always  indi- 
cates a  victory  of  faith  and  love.  Our  inspiration  to 
resist  self-love,  like  his,  is  the  conquest  we  make  of 
Jesus'  enemies,  and  the  glory  we  give  thereby  to  His 
great  name  of  Saviour.       . 

%\t  feeconti  a^onna^  (n  ^anbent 

6t«  3[o|)n  ^apti0t  X\>t  %t\xt  (Retain  of  C^riist 

The  holy  Baptist  had  the  strongest  possible  motives 
for  concluding  that  Jesus  was  the  Qirist  long  before 


SAINT  JOHN  15 


the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  Him  betokened 
His  Messianic  office  infallibly.  Evidently,  he  had,  be- 
fore the  baptism  of  Jesus,  known  Him  as  superemi- 
nently holy,  for  when  his  divine  Cousin  approached 
him  at  the  Jordan,  he  would  have  prevented  Him  from 
receiving  the  laver  of  repentance,  saying:  "I  have 
need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee,  and  comest  Thou  to  me  ?" 
(St.  Matt,  iii:  13  ff.).  And  this  plain  admission  of 
his  inferiority  to  the  Boy  and  Man  with  Whom  he  had 
grown  up  is  clear  testimony  to  his  great  reverence  for 
the  sanctity  of  our  Lord.  Indeed,  it  is  all  but  an  asser- 
tion of  His  INIessiahship,  for  only  the  Lord  Himself 
ought  to  baptize  His  Forerunner.  Yet  he  would  not 
proclaim  Jesus  as  Christ,  until  the  appointed  sign  had 
been  given.  Until  it  was  revealed  to  him,  he  ''knew 
not"  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  However  appropriate  he 
saw  that  it  would  be  for  God  to  reveal  Jesus  as  the 
Saviour,  he  would  not  anticipate  the  revelation  of  Him. 
In  this  way,  he  teaches  us  that  we  must  be  guided  by 
the  actual  revelation  of  the  Allwise  God,  in  the  Bible 
as  interpreted  by  Holy  Church.  It  would  be  foolish 
and  irreverent  for  us  to  follow  our  own  prior  assump- 
tion that  this  or  that  would  be  appropriate  for  God, 
and  therefore  must  be  the  way  in  which  he  deals  with 
our  souls. 

Again,  St.  John  was  not  influenced  in  the  least  by 
the  popular  speculations  of  what  the  Messiah  would  be 
like,  nor  by  desire  for  the  applause  of  the  Jews.  They 
were  looking  for  a  great  Warrior  who  would  lead  them 
to  victory  against  the  Romans.  If  he  had  been  a  false 
prophet,  he  would  have  declared  that  he  had  beheld  a 
gigantic  eagle  descending  upon  Jesus'  head  to  mark 
Him  out  as  one  before  Whom  the  eagles  of  the  Romans 
would  go  down  to  defeat.    But,  truthfully,  he  pro- 


16  SAINT  JOHN 


claimed  that  he  had  been  shown,  not  an  eagle  on 
Messiah's  helm,  but  a  Dove  abiding  in  His  Heart. 
The  revelation  was  in  fact,  not  of  a  great  conqueror 
who  should  lead  the  Jews  to  victory  against  the  hated 
invaders,  but  of  One  about  Whom  there  was  to  be  *'a 
brooding  peace,  a  lowly  gentleness,  a  still  small  voice." 
In  our  day,  also,  there  are  plausible  and  often  attrac- 
tive descriptions  of  imaginary  Christs,  but  our  Lord  is 
He  Who  was  revealed  in  the  Gospels. 

Finally,  the  holy  Forerunner  would  not  permit  his 
temperament  and  prejudices  to  make  him  less  recep- 
tive of  revealed  truth.  His  natural  disposition  was 
severe,  his  whole  training  had  been  sternly  ascetical, 
and  his  indignation  against  the  wickedness  and  hypoc- 
risy of  the  Jews  was  great.  He  had  expected  our 
Lord  to  come  with  a  flail  to  separate  the  wheat  of  His 
own  disciples  from  the  chaff  of  the  unrepentant,  and 
with  unquenchable  fire  wherewith  immediately  to  burn 
the  chaff  (St.  Matt,  iii:  12).  Then  appeared  the  lowly 
Saviour  taking  His  place  with  sinners  in  the  baptism 
of  repentance.  Instead  of  the  Mighty  One  (St.  Luke 
iii:  16),  the  stern  Judge  executing  instant  vengeance 
upon  His  enemies,  ''behold  the  Lamb  of  God!"  Yet 
St.  John  immediately  accepted  and  proclaimed  the 
Messiah  as  He  was.  Thus  he  teaches  us  a  third  great 
lesson,  that  we  can  surmount  the  limitations  of  tem- 
perament and  defy  inherited  or  acquired  prejudice, 
which  would  exclude  from  our  hearts  the  Christ  of  the 
Gospels  and  His  teaching.  Let  us  resolve  that  we 
will  ever  hold  fast  to  Him  Who  comes  to  us  down  the 
ages  of  Catholic  tradition. 


^ 


SAINT  JOHN  17 


%ie  &ttonh  ^utfihav  in  )Sltibent 

^U  3[o|)n  Bapttjst  ajs  t^e  S;pe  of  tl^r  ^rue  I^cteet 

St.  John  completely  lost  himself  in  his  office  as  our 
Lord's  Forerunner.  He  was  simply  the  "voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness."  In  the  presence  of  Christ 
his  separate  entity  was  lost.  A  voice  has  no  existence 
until  it  is  uttered  and  then  at  once  it  disappears  on  the 
air  and  leaves  no  record  of  itself.  Yet  it  was  by  no 
means  the  individuality  of  the  Baptist  which  was  thus 
suppressed,  but  his  natural  individualism.  For  evi- 
dently his  personality  continued  definite  and  strong. 
If  we  examine  his  statements,  we  find  the  "I's"  very 
frequent,  and  in  the  Greek  these  are  particularly  em- 
phatic, because  they  are  expressed  by  the  pro- 
noun, instead  of  being  implied  in  the  form  of  the  verb, 
as  is  usual  where  there  is  no  special  emphasis  on  the 
personality  of  the  speaker.  But  his  self-consciousness 
had  given  way  to  the  consciousness  of  his  ministry  as 
our  Lord's  herald.  And  the  more  the  Christian  priest, 
like  St.  John,  loses  himself  in  his  sacred  office  for  the 
High-priest,  the  greater  will  be  the  holiness  and  power 
of  his  personality  and  the  less  will  be  his  individualism. 
Let  the  lay-people  help  him  to  this  self-consecration 
by  seeking  from  him  a  Christ-like  cure  of  their  souls, 
rather  than  natural  attractiveness  or  brilliance. 

As  a  preacher,  St.  John  was  exactly  suited  to  his  peo- 
ple's wants,  in  the  sense  that  he  was  an  ascetic,  a  priest, 
and  a  prophet.  For  in  this  way  he  was  the  appropriate 
minister  for  the  three  principal  sections  of  the  Jews, 
the  strict  Pharisees,  the  hierarchy  and  the  main  body 
of  the  lay-people,  and  that  small  but  all-important 
group  who  were  eagerly  expecting  the  advent  of  a 
true  prophet  after  the  centuries  of  silence  following 


18  SAINT  JOHN 


Malachi.  Consequently,  he  inspired  his  hearers  pro- 
foundly so  that  "all  men  mused  in  their  hearts  of 
John,  whether  he  were  the  Christ  or  no"  (St.  Luke 
iii':  15).  Yet  he  never  courted  popularity  nor  yielded 
to  it  when  it  came  unsought.  So  completely  was  he 
absorbed  in  preaching  Christ,  that  naught  remained  of 
him  except  a  voice,  but  that  voice  framed  the  Word 
of  God. 

In  his  character,  he  united  the  qualities  of  the  seer 
and  the  practical  servant  of  Christ.  He  performed 
his  day's  duty  to  the  least  detail,  while  his  eyes  were 
straining  for  the  vision  of  Christ.  Moreover,  while 
he  was  abjectly  humble,  too  mean  in  his  own  eyes, 
indeed,  to  perform  a  slave's  office  for  Christ,  yet  he 
was  fearless  before  Herod's  court,  when  his  own  life 
was  at  stake.  Now,  "As  with  the  people,  so  with  the 
priest"  (Isa.  xxiv:  2),  H  our  congregations  want 
priests  and  prophets  like  St.  John  Baptist,  they  must 
produce  them.  Only  holy  parents  can  give  the  Church 
holy  ministers.  When  there  are  more  St.  Elisabeths, 
there  will  be  more  seers  and  martyrs. 


W^z  &econli  ^etine^tia^  in  i^ltibent 

$t«  3[o|)n  ^aptii0t'0  Sermon 

The  burden  of  the  proclamation  made  by  our  Lord's 
herald  was,  "Repent  ye  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  at  hand."  Often,  however,  he  expressed  this  same 
thought  in  the  words  of  Isaiah  (xl :  3),  "Make  straight 
the  way  of  the  Lord,"  or,  more  fully,  "Prepare  ye  the 
way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths  straight.  Every  val- 
ley shall  be  filled,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be 
brought  low ;  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight, 


SAINT  JOHN  19 


and  the  rough  ways  shall  be  made  smooth."  Now,  the 
meaning  of;  Isaiah's  cry,  thus  adopted  by  the  Baptist, 
was  that  Jehovah  was  about  to  return  from  Babylon, 
leading  his  people  home  to  the  Promised  Land,  and 
He  demanded  a  new,  straight  road  to  be  constructed 
for  him  through  the  desert.  There  was  a  roundabout, 
conventional,  wide  highway  from  Babylon  to  Jerusa- 
lem, but  the  Lord  would  lead  his  people  straight  for- 
ward, by  the  shortest  way,  although  this  involved  level- 
ing valleys,  straightening  out  curves,  and  smoothing 
down  innumerable  rough  places.  The  meaning  was, 
of  course,  that  God's  people  must  make  for  him  a 
straight  and  speedy  way  into  their  heart  of  hearts. 

There  were  certain  principles  of  gentleness  and  ap- 
pealing kindness  which  Christ's  great  Servant  followed 
in  this  sermon  of  his.  In  the  first  place,  he  assumed 
that  there  was  some  knowledge  of  his  subject  already 
in  his  hearers'  minds.  He  does  not  think  it  necessary 
to  explain  the  ancient  prophecy  he  uses.  The  people 
are  familiar  with  its  meaning  and  the  way  in  which 
it  was  fulfilled  by  the  return  of  the  exiles.  Far  oftener 
than  we  usually  suppose,  this  same  method  of  teaching 
was  used  by  those  earliest  preachers  of  Christ.  The 
Apostle  of  Love  customarily  takes  a  tone  with  those 
to  whom  he  writes,  as  if  he  would  say,  '1  tell  you  this, 
but  of  course  you  already  know  it  in  substance."  Is 
not  our  own  method  very  different  from  this,  very 
often?  Are  not  we  obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  Freder- 
ick Dennison  Maurice  that  we  act  as  if  we  could 
teach  people  by  screaming  the  truth  in  their  ears  ?  We 
will  be  more  successful  in  converting  unbelievers,  if 
we  gladly  recognize  all  that  is  true  in  the  position  they 
are  already  holding. 


20  SAINT  JOHN 


In  two  other  ways,  St.  John  gained  sympathy  and 
receptivity  in  his  congregation,  (a)  He  did  not  ignore 
the  difficulties  which  beset  the  course  he  was  advocat- 
ing. It  was  a  hard  matter  to  make  a  straight  highway 
through  a  wilderness.  It  was  even  more  difficult  to 
smooth  a  path  for  Jesus  Christ  over  the  mountainous 
obstacles  o-f  human  pride  and  selfishness,  (b)  He 
sounded,  in  his  sermon,  a  great  note  of  joy  and  tri- 
umph. Jehovah  was  leading  His  people  home,  in  the 
thought  of  Isaiah,  and  St.  John  pictured  Him  entering 
into  His  creature's  heart  and  bringing  with  Him  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  . 

flDur  lLorli*0  I^elp  to  %>X,  3[o|)n  'Baptist 

The  great  Herald  of  Christ  knew,  it  seems,  that  he 
-would  never  live  to  see  the  triumph  of  his  Master. 
His  humble  saying,  "I  am  not  worthy  to  stoop  down 
and  unloose  the  latchet  of  His  sandals  and  then  carry 
them  away,"  as,  we  may  collect  from  the  Gospels,  is 
his  complete  metaphor,  probably  involves  a  prophecy 
of  his  own  speedy  death.  For  he  refers  to  the  slave's 
duty  to  his  master  at  the  end  oi  a  journey,  or  when 
his  lord  has  returned  from  the  battlefield.  It  was  then 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  dusty,  laborious  march,  when 
the  strife  had  ended  in  victory,  that  the  master  sat 
down  and  received  from  his  servant  the  removal  of  his 
sandals  and  the  refreshing  bath  for  his  feet.  And  St. 
John  foresaw  that  he  must  be  content  with  the  honor 
of  announcing  the  beginning  of  our  Lord's  long,  ardu- 
ous "way."  Others  would  unloose  His  sandals,  when 
the  journey's  end  had  come,  and  He  had  triumphed  in 
the  mortal  strife  of  His  Passion. 


SAINT  JOHN  21 

But  if  the  Baptist  must  look  forward  to  his  own 
martyrdom,  and  see  it,  too,  directly  before  him,  he  had 
the  help  of  his  Lord's  example  to  strengthen  and  en- 
courage him.  For  he  was  allowed  to  understand  what 
seems  to  have  been  hidden  from  the  comprehension  of 
the  Twelve  until  the  very  end  of  Jesus'  ministry,  that 
He,  being  the  Lamb  of  God,  must  be  sacrificed  to  "take 
away  the  sins  of  the  world."  Perhaps  the  sacrificial 
lambs  for  the  Passover  were  being  driven  past  St. 
John  at  the  time,  and,  seeing  them  without  spot  or 
blemish,  in  their  innocence,  going  on  to  die  for  the 
sins  of  the  people,  he  was  the  better  able  to  foresee 
the  martyrdom  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  its  blessed 
sacrificial  value  for  the  sons  of  men.  Certainly  he 
understood,  at  least  dimly,  that  God  had  come  into  the 
world  to  die  for  him,  and  so  he  gained  great  strength 
and  courage  to  die  for  God. 

For  John  was  fearless  throughout  his  rugged, 
stormy  career,  and  that  while  he  stood  alone.  Most 
men  can  pluck  up  courage  when  they  stand  abreast  of 
their  fellows.  But  the  Baptist  grew  up  as  a  solitary 
of  the  desert.  He  came  forth  to  preach  alone,  he  was 
imprisoned  in  solitary  confinement,  and  he  died  there 
m  the  gloomy  prison  of  Machaerus  at  midnight,  alone. 
Surely,  the  secret  of  his  unflinching  bravery  was  his 
knowledge  that  in  his  loneliness  also,  he  was  Hke  the 
Lamb  of  God.  His  Cousin  must  tread  the  winepress 
alone,  and  always,  in  His  Heart  of  Hearts,  bear  the 
isolation  of  One  supremely  great.  Thus  St.  John 
would  be  certain,  during  the  long  weeks  of  his  confine- 
ment, that  God  the  Father  must  have  some  wise  and 
beneficent  purpose  in  his  loneliness,  inasmuch  as  He 
was  leading  His  very  own  Son  by  solitary  ways. 


22  SAINT  JOHN 


delf'Henial  foe  J^tsnx%*  Sa&e 

Heroic  as  the  holy  Baptist  was,  his  words,  perhaps 
involuntarily,  betray  the  effort  which  his  self-denial 
cost  him.  Thus  in  the  Greek  of  his  saying,  "This  is 
He  of  Whom  I  said,  after  me  cometh  a  Man  Which 
is  preferred  before  me,  for  He  was  before  me,"  the 
words  "of  Whom  I  said"  mean  "in  Whose  behalf  I 
said."  And  wherever  this  expression  occurs  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel  it  implies  that  a  sacrifice  has  been  made 
in  behalf  of  another.  It  was  not  easy  for  St.  John  to 
renounce  his  great  popularity,  and  declare  his  utter 
inferiority  to  Jesus.  But  he  had  the  inspiration  of 
knowing  that  the  One  for  Whom  he  thus  denied  him- 
self was  the  eternal  Son  of  God.  ''For  He  was  before 
me,"  he  says  of  Christ,  although  our  Lord  was  born 
six  months  later  than  His  Forerunner.  St.  John  has 
in  view  the  eternal  preexistence  of  the  Lord,  and  he  is 
content  to  give  up  all  in  behalf  of  such  a  Master. 

Once  more,  we  observe  that  it  had  been  the  plan  of 
the  Baptist,  from  the  beginning,  so  to  act  that  men 
would  turn  away  from  him  to  follow  Christ.  "That 
He  should  be  made  manifest  to  Israel,"  he  declared, 
"Therefore  am  I  come  baptizing."  As  his  baptism  of 
repentance  cleansed  from  men's  spiritual  eyes  the 
blinding  blear  of  sin,  they  would  recognize  Christ  as 
their  Saviour.  And  inevitably,  his  followers  would  in 
this  way  desert  him.  It  was  due  to  no  sudden  burst 
of  generous  love  for  Christ,  therefore,  but  to  a  pur- 
pose formed  perhaps  far  back  in  his  wilderness  life, 
when  first  he  knew  that  he  was  destined  to  go  before 
the  face  of  the  Lord  to  prepare  His  ways,  that  he  now 
took  the  very  course  which  would  plunge  him  from 


SAINT  JOHN  23 


his  lofty  pinnacle  of  popularity  into  the  depths  of  ob- 
scurity and  dereliction. 

Moreover,  we  see  from  the  sacred  narrative  how 
every  detail  of  his  ministry  was  planned  accordmg  to 
his  life  purpose  of  self-denial.    When  the  Pharisees 
challenged  him  to  explain  why  he  was  baptizing,  if  he 
was  not  the  Qirist,  or  Elijah  or  the  greatest  of  the 
prophets,   he   answered   that   he   was   baptizing   with 
water,  but  there  was  One  for  Whom  he  was  simply 
herald.  Who  would  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost.    They 
had  attacked  him  on  the  score  that  only  the  Messiah, 
or  one  of  the  two  greatest  prophets,  ought  to  treat  the 
chosen  people  as  unclean.    But  his  answer  meant  that 
he  was  a  nobody  and  that  his  baptism  in  water  ought 
to  be  allowed  to  him  because  it  was  merely  prefatory 
to  the  real  laver  in  the  Blessed  Spirit.    And  our  Evan- 
gelist is  careful  to  record  that  St.  John  thus  renounced 
all  claim  to  eminence  "in  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan, 
where  [he]  was  baptizing."    Upon  which  St.  Chrysos- 
tom  remarks :    "It  was  not  in  a  house,  nor  in  a  comer, 
nor  in  the  desert,  but  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  that 
St.   John   made   that   admirable   confession."    Let  us 
learn  from  this  great  saint  how  complete  may  be  our 
conquest  of  self-love  for  the  sake  of  our  dear  Saviour. 

W^t  feeconH  featttrtia?  in  lanbent 

«n  3[o|)n  lBajitwt'0  ^fatfjincs  on  l^ocation 

The  holy  Forerunner  of  Christ  revealed  to  us  by  his 
example  the  gre  principles  of  that  fundamental  thing 
in  each  of  our  liv  -vocation.  For  each  of  us  is  called 
to  be  in  some  w?  'orerunner  of  our  Lord,  whether 

it  be  in  the  wo'  ^e  Religious  Life,  whether  it 


24  SAINT  JOHN 


is  the  Divine  purpose  that  we  become  priests  or  that 
we  do  our  part  for  the  training  of  others  for  the 
Sacred  Ministry.  We  read  that  St.  John  ''stood" 
watching*  for  Christ.  He  was  not  engaged  in  preach- 
ing and  baptizing.  Indeed  this  was  probably  the  Sab- 
bath when  he  was  enjoined  to  rest,  even  from  his 
spiritual  labors.  No.  He  stands  on  the  alert  to  see 
Christ  again,  full  of  eager  love  for  his  Master  and  zeal 
for  His  success.  Yet,  when  he  once  more  beheld  the 
Lamb  of  God,  he  announced  Christ  indefinitely,  speak- 
ing in  an  impersonal  way,  into  the  air,  as  if  address- 
ing no  one  in  particular.  Evidently,  his  thought  was 
that  he  must  preach  vocation,  but  must  leave  it  to  come 
home  to  the  hearts  of  his  disciples  by  the  interior  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  we  also  should  expect 
these  two  complementary  evidences  of  vocation,  in  our 
own  case,  the  call  of  the  Church,  sounding  in  our  ears, 
and  the  impulse  of  God  moving  us  to  respond,  in  our 
hearts. 

In  these  few  verses  before  us  (i:35  f.),  we  have  the 
description  of  the  beginning  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
which  is  perhaps  the  most  stupendous  fact  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  for  it  is  the  institution  of  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  on  earth.  But  was  this  divine  economy 
of  grace  initiated  by  a  mighty  miracle  wrought  before 
the  eyes  of  all  the  world  ?  Was  it  not  rather  begun  by 
the  practical  application  which  two  obscure  men,  in 
one  tiny  corner  of  the  earth,  gave  to  a  merely  general 
suggestion  falling  from  the  lips  of  a  preacher  of 
Christ?  What  issues  of  incalculable  importance,  per- 
haps in  the  far  distant  future,  may  depend  upon  my 
obedience  to  even  an  intimation  from  God ! 

It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  Christ  was  at  this  mo- 
ment of  destiny  walking  away  from  those  whom  He 


SAINT  JOHN  25 


had  eternally  purposed  should  be  the  first  disciples. 
The  day  before,  He  had  "come  unto"  them,  but  now 
He  is  making  "as  though  He  would  have  gone"  away. 
This  was  to  teach  them,  and  us,  that  in  the  develop- 
ment of  vocation,  there  are,  first,  the  approach  and 
appeal  and  attraction  of  the  Lamb  of  God;  and  then 
presently  what  seems  to  be  His  flight  from  us.  We 
must  not.  at  any  such  time  of  spiritual  desolation,  be 
too  much  cast  down,  but,  following  these  first  disci- 
ples, pursue  Him  with  faith  and  love,  until  we  once 
more  gain  His  tender  fellowship. 

S|)C  C|)irli  aHeefe  in  aubrnt*  Read  St.  John  i :  37-44 

W^t  apoitir  of  ilobe 

In  the  passage  for  our  study  during  this  week,  we 
for  the  first  time  come  upon  our  dear  Apostle  of  Love. 
There  is  truth  in  the  saying  that  the  three  great  Theo- 
logical Virtues  are  exemplified  in  the  three  greatest 
Apostles :  faith  in  St.  Paul,  hope  in  St.  Peter,  and  love 
in  St.  John.  The  Beloved  Disciple,  therefore,  is  dis- 
tinguished for  the  greatest  of  all  spiritual  qualities, 
and  one  which  made  him  supereminently  like  Christ. 
For,  our  Lord  had  in  His  Godhead  neither  faith  nor 
hope,  since  God  knows  all  things  and  therefore  be- 
lieves nothing,  while  He  also  possesses  all  things  and 
therefore  hopes  for  nothing.  Moreover,  in  His  Hu^- 
man  Mind,  Christ  probably  saw  God,  throughout  His 
life  on  earth,  and  in  the  Beatific  Vision  knew  with 
absolute  certainty  the  truth,  in  which  we  believe  with- 
out seeing;  and  He  possessed  that  fruition  of  our 
Christian  life  for  which  we  only  hope.    Accordingly, 


26  SAINT  JOHN 


it  was  appropriate  that  the  Apostle  who  was  remark- 
able above  all  others  for  Divine  Charity  should  be  espe- 
cially marked  out  by  Jesus  as  the  disciple  whom  He 
loved,  since  He  was  Perfect  Charity. 

From  this  fact,  that  St.  John's  love  was  like  that  of 
Christ,  it  follows  that  it  was  no  sentimental,  girlish 
characteristic,  but  was  intensely  practical.  Maurice  was 
stirred  almost  to  indignation  by  the  feminine  smooth- 
ness of  St.  John's  face  in  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  fresco 
of  the  Last  Supper.  ''Was  not  St.  John  the  Apostle 
of  Love?"  he  exclaimed,  'Then  in  such  a  world  of 
hate  and  misery  as  this,  do  you  not  think  he  must  have 
had  more  furrows  in  his  cheek  than  all  the  other 
apostles?"  And  Kingsley,  who  records  this  episode, 
knew  that  his  friend  "spoke  true"  of  St.  John.  His 
writings  are  full  of  proofs  that  in  his  view  Christian- 
ity amounts  to  nothing,  unless  our  daily  life  is  instinct 
with  it.  We  are  to  ''do  righteousness,"  and  ''do  the 
Truth,"  and  "to  have  Eternal  Life"  now  and  here. 

We  shall  often  have  occasion  to  notice  how  prac- 
tically our  saintly  conductor  applied  the  law  of  love 
in  his  own  life.  But  we  may  observe  here,  that  it  led 
him  to  be  very  appreciative  of  his  fellow  disciples  and 
of  their  positive  beauties  of  character.  It  is  to  him  we 
owe  those  portrayals  of  Andrew,  Philip,  Nathanael  and 
Thomas,  which  reveal  them  to  have  been  our  own  dear 
brethren  as  well  as  our  saintly  exemplars  in  the  spir- 
itual life.  Except  for  his  love  these  would  be  but 
names  to  us.  Let  us  learn  from  him,  as  the  first  les- 
son of  love  for  our  neighbor,  that,  in  the  circle  of  our 
own  home  and  of  our  group  of  friends,  we  must  love 
best  to  seek  out  and  find  what  is  gracious  and  lovely, 
and  to  keep  these  characteristics  before  our  minds. 


SAINT  JOHN  27 


W^z  (^umilit?  of  %X,  3fo|jn  tl)e  (Kfaancrlwt 

Love  made  our  Apostle  modest,  and  that  according 
to  both  its  meanings,  for  he  was  both  humble  and 
pure.  He  is  too  modest  ever  to  speak  of  himself  by 
name,  and  even  the  title  of  honor  by  which  he  refers 
to  himself,  is  one  in  which  we  all  share  with  him. 
He  might  well  have  boasted  about  the  loyalty  and 
devotion  of  his  brother,  St.  James,  and  of  his  mother, 
Salome,  but  he  so  shrank  from  attracting  attention  to 
himself,  that  he  leaves  his  brother  entirely  out  of  ac- 
count, and  mentions  Salome's  watch  before  the  Cross 
only  in  a  very  obscure  way,  referring  to  her  by  the 
phrase  ''His  mother's  sister"  (xix:  25).  In  the  same 
way,  and  constrained  all  the  more  by  modesty,  he  no- 
where suggests  that  he  was  the  nephew  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  cousin  of  the  Incarnate  God. 

Tliis  same  kind  of  humility  comes  out  prominently 
in  certain  facts  about  his  sacred  literary  work.  Al- 
though it  must  have  seemed  to  be  indicated  by  his 
knowledge  of  our  Lord's  life  on  earth,  by  the  further 
revelations  about  Jesus  which  came  to  him  from  the 
Blessed  Mother  after  he  took  her  to  his  own  home 
(xix:  2y),  and  by  his  apostolic  authority,  that  he 
should  write  a  Gk)Spel,  he  consented  to  do  this  only  at 
the  request  of  the  faithful,  according  to  the  ancient 
tradition. 

Frequently,  in  his  Epistles,  he  puts  himself  on  a  level 
with  his  ''Httle  children."  For  example,  when  he  must 
warn  them  against  that  very  unreality  in  their  Chris- 
tian life  which  was  so  far  removed  from  himself,  he 
gently  makes  the  exhortation  conditional,  and  delicate- 
ly and  humbly  includes  himself.    '7/  we  say  that  we 


28  SAINT  JOHN 


have  fellowship  with  Him  and  walk  in  darkness  we  lie 
and  do  not  the  truth."  Thus  lovingly  with  his  "if's" 
and  his  "we's"  he  softens  what  otherwise  would  be  a 
stern  rebuke.  May  Love  teach  us  humility  like  his, 
and  give  us  a  share  in  his  modesty  in  regard  to  our 
family  and  our  performances,  and  in  his  gentleness 
and  lowliness  in  correcting  those  under  our  charge. 

W^z  %\\ty\  ^ue0Da^  in  Sltibent 

dt  3[o^n  tbe  (ZBbanQeliiBt  a  ^otiel  of  dflf'conisccration 

For  the  sake  of  Jesus,  St.  John  was  from  his  youth 
devoted  to  the  celibate  life.  And  out  of  his  virgin 
estate  grew,  for  one  thing,  his  appreciation  of  holy 
women.  One  notices  how  frequently  he  describes,  with 
the  utmost  sympathy,  some  episode  in  which  the  chief 
human  actor  is  a  woman,  and  invariably  the  incident 
redounds  to  her  praise.  Again,  it  seems  to  have  been 
natural  to  him,  since  he  had  no  children  of  his  own, 
to  give  his  paternal  instinct  and  love  expression  by 
adopting  the  people  of  his  entire  archdiocese  as  his 
"little  ones." 

Our  leader  is,  moreover,  a  model  of  religious  pov- 
erty. While  he  was  a  young  man  of  some  wealth,  of 
the  family  of  David,  and  of  brilliant  prospects  in  view 
of  his  intellectual  endowment  and  his  favor  in  the 
high-priests'  palace,  he  gave  up  everything  to  follow 
Christ.  Indeed  if  it  had  been  possible  he  would,  ap- 
parently, have  given  up  his  very  name,  for  in  his  Gos- 
pel he  resigns  it  entirely  to  St.  John  Baptist,  whom  he 
always  calls  by  the  simple  title  "John,"  as  if  there  were 
no  other  John  among  our  Lord's  disciples. 

He  was  obedient  not  simply  to  the  instructions  of 
his  first  superior,  the  holy  Baptist,  but  to  a  mere  inti- 


SAINT  JOHN  29 


mation  from  him,  as  we  have  seen.  One  siispects  that 
he  took  the  initiative  in  following  our  Lord,  and  that 
St.  Andrew  was  guided  by  him.  But  whether  or  not 
this  was  true,  the  debt  which  the  world  owes  to  his 
generous  obedience  is  incalculable,  for  with  these  two 
first  disciples  the  Christian  Church  began.  The  time 
was  early  spring,  and  probably  the  equinox,  as  the 
ancient  tradition  asserts.  In  our  day,  an  earthly  mon- 
arch began  his  drive  with  the  vast  hosts  of  his  armies 
at  the  vernal  equinox.  How  great  is  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  millions  of  soldiers  and  the  roar  of  uncount- 
ed guns  of  the  one  king,  and  the  two  Galilean  fishermen 
of  the  Other!  Yet  the  religious  obedience  of  these 
two  countrymen  to  the  will  of  the  God-Man  accom- 
phshed  that  which  the  gigantic  forces  of  the  earthly 
king  failed  to  do— it  initiated  the  conquest  of  the  whole 
world  for  their  Master. 

«!♦  3[oI)n  X^t  Cbancelwt'g  Kelistous  Jgpirit 

Our  beloved  Teacher  was  always  full  of  gladness 
over  the  choice  he  made  at  his  first  meeting  with 
Christ.  Sixty-five  years  afterwards,  when  he  wrote 
his  Gospel,  that  cry  of  the  Baptist,  ''After  me  cometh 
One  Who  is  preferred  before  me,"  rang  sweet  and 
clear  in  his  heart.  Three  times  he  mentions  it  (i:  15, 
27,  30),  in  the  course  of  sixteen  verses.  These  words 
contain  a  main  part  of  the  instruction  which  soon  sent 
him  after  Christ,  and  accordingly  he  remembers  them 
with  deep  gratitude,  because  they  brought  him  the 
supreme  happiness  of  his  life. 

Evidently,  he  began  to  live  when  first  he  gained 
comradeship  with  Jesus.    All  his  life,  he  recollected 


30  SAINT  JOHN 


that  it  was  "about  the  tenth  hour,"  when  he  first  went 
to  abide  with  his  Saviour. 

He  was  always  ready  and  willing  to  do  more  than 
was  required  of  him.  Indeed,  it  was  because  he  was 
generous,  rather  than  merely  legal,  in  his  religious 
spirit,  that  he  had  the  opportunity  of  becoming  one  of 
the  first  disciples.  For  this  was  the  Sabbath  day,  it 
seems,  when  his  rule  allowed  rest,  and  when  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Baptist's  little  community  were  using 
the  dispensation.  Only  St.  John  and  St.  Andrew  were 
with  their  good  director,  and  according  to  their  more 
generous  eagerness  to  serve,  it  was  done  unto  them. 
For  Christ  also  there  was  no  Sabbath  rest,  when  these 
two  hearts  were  waiting  to  pledge  Him  their  allegi- 
ance; and  to  them  first  of  all  the  world,  He  revealed 
Himself  as  the  Messiah.  Let  us  be  sure  that  whenever 
we  will  we  can  please  our  Lord  by  giving  Him  the 
offering  of  a  free  heart,  and  that  He  will  by  no  means 
let  Himself  be  outdone  in  generosity,  but  will  set  His 
Heart  upon  the  disciple  who  so  rejoices  in  his  religion 
that  he  serves  when  he  might  lawfully  rest. 


$t»  IMn  t|)e  ®ban0eli0t'0  Debelopment 

Even  the  Beloved  Disciple  had  faults.  He  showed 
zeal  that  was  not  according  to  knowledge,  nor  suffici- 
ently dominated  by  love,  when  he  would  have  called 
down  fire  upon  the  inhospitable  Samaritan  village.  He 
must  learn  that  the  fire  our  Saviour  meant  to  send 
upon  those  poor  foolish  hearts  was  from  a  Spirit  quite 
different  from  that  which  was  misleading  the  young 
Apostle  (cp.  St.  Luke  ix:  54  flf.,  and  Acts  viii:  5-17). 


SAINT  JOHN  31 


Also,  he  was  ambitious  to  occupy  a  jx>sition  at  the  right 
Hand  or  the  Left  of  Christ  in  His  earthly  Kingdom. 
For  the  ineffable  tenderness  of  Divine  Charity  was  still 
beyond  his  ken.  He  had  not  seen  the  Cross,  the 
Throne  of  Love,  upon  which  Christ  was  to  reign,  with 
the  repentant  thief,  the  soul  in  dire  need  of  Him,  on 
His  right  Hand,  and  on  His  Left,  one  over  whom  His 
Heart  broke  in  vain. 

Apart  from  his  sins,  the  youngest  of  the  Apostles 
must  have  displayed  some  natural  tendencies  which 
needed  training  and  sanctification.  For  one  thing,  he 
seems  to  have  been  very  dramatic.  It  is  true  that  all 
our  evidence  is  drawn  from  his  Gospel,  and  there  this 
temperamental  peculiarity  is  found  consecrated  to  the 
sacred  purpose  of  portraying  the  Tragedy  of  Divine 
Love.  We  notice  the  ^'telling  brevity  and  abruptness" 
of  such  sentences  as  "It  was  night" ;  "Then  saith  He 
unto  them,  I  am";  "Now  Barabbas  was  a  robber." 
Akin  to  this  characteristic  is  his  love  of  contrasts,  ex- 
emplified in  his  hanging  side  by  side  his  portraits  of 
incredulous  Nicodemus,  the  Sanhedrist  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  believing  Samaritaness,  a  heretic  of  a  degraded 
country  village.  We  may  well  suppose  that  such 
qualities  of  style  as  these,  which  the  aged  Apostle  has 
completely  at  his  command,  and  uses  for  the  enrich- 
ment of  his  Gospel,  indicate  that,  at  his  conversion, 
he  might  easily  have  become  the  victim  of  a  tempera- 
ment. But  under  the  guidance  of  his  Master's  Spirit 
he  learned  to  force  these  natural  characteristics  into 
Christ's  service. 

It  is  profoundly  significant  that  St.  John  nowhere 
calls  himself  the  "disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,"  until 
his  description  of  the  evening  before  Calvary.  Evi- 
dently it  had  required  three  years  of  fellowship  with 


32  SAINT  JOHN 


Incarnate  God  to  develop  him  into  a  soul  upon  which 
Jesus  could  look  with  that  special  regard. 

Come  vnH  %>tt 

The  idea  with  which  St.  John  and  St.  Andrew  ap- 
proached our  Lord  was'  that  He  was  one  of  the  rabbis, 
for  in  fact  He  seems  to  have  worn  clothing  like  theirs. 
No  doubt,  they  thought,  He  is  traveling,  and  we  will 
discover  His  permanent  abiding  place,  so  that  later  we 
can  visit  Him  and  hear  His  teaching.  ''Rabbi,"  they 
said,  "Where  dwellest  Thou?"  But  Christ's  love  was 
far  too  eager  to  brook  a  delay,  "Come  at  once,"  is  the 
forceful  meaning  of  His  words,  "and  you  shall  see." 
It  is  always  timely  to  seek  our  Lord.  Often  and  over 
He  said  that  "His  time  had  not  yet  come,"  but  this  was 
never  in  reference  to  the  approach  of  a  human  soul  for 
spiritual  aid.  It  was  never  inopportune  to  see  such  a 
one  no  matter  how  inconveniently  the  interview  in- 
truded upon  His  retirement. 

The  phrase  with  which  Jesus  thus  welcomed  His 
first  disciples  seems  to  have  had  a  really  hackneyed 
rabbinical  use.  It  was  the  new  content  with  which 
He  filled  it,  which  made  it  so  gracious  and  so  appeal- 
ing. The  rabbis  would  select  some  hard  point  in  the 
Law,  and,  after  displaying  the  apparently  insoluble 
difficulty  of  the  problem,  would  then  invite  their  dis- 
ciples to  hear  their  subtle  elucidation,  saying,  "Come 
and  see."  Theirs  was  a  religion  which  centered  around 
the  Book  of  the  Law,  but  His  disciples  must  find  in 
Him  the  very  Heart  of  their  piety. 

For  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  in  the  world  began 
with  the  introduction  to  the  King  of  these  two  first 


SAINT  JOHN  33 


citizens.  In  this  it  is  perfectly  different,  not  only  from 
the  Jewish  Church,  but  from  every  human  institution. 
What  would  a  newly-arrived  immigrant  think,  if  he 
were  told  that  his  naturalization  would  involve  his  be- 
coming an  intimate  friend  of  our  President!  But  in 
the  State  of  Salvation  it  is  of  the  essence  of  our  citizen- 
ship that  each  subject  should  come  to  know  his  Lord 
personally.  Aliens  may  know  about  Him,  but  we 
know  Him  and  by  faith  see  Him  (xiv:  19). 

3[e!SU)S  9mon0  X\)t  Son?  of  6@en 

These  first  disciples  of  our  Blessed  Lord  were  very 
different  from  one  another.  St.  Peter  was  eager  and 
impetuous,  while  St.  Philip  was  slow  and  cautious  and 
disposed  to  demand  sensible  evidence  before  forming 
a  conclusion.  St.  Andrew  was  the  very  type  of  the 
active  missionary ;  St.  Nathanael  displays  the  qualities 
of  the  contemplative.  Yet  over  all  these  hearts  our 
Lord  established  His  dominion.  It  was  as  if  He  would, 
from  the  beginning,  disprove  that  modern  excuse  for 
unbelief,  the  assertion  that  there  are  temperaments  to 
which  He  cannot  appeal. 

His  methods  of  attracting  them,  moreover,  were 
remarkably  varied.  St.  John  and  St.  Andrew  were 
drawn  to  Him  by  the  life  and  preaching  of  a  holy 
priest,  St.  John  Baptist.  St.  Peter  was  called  by  his 
own  brother,  and  we  may  observe  in  passing  that  it  is 
not  always  easy  for  one  to  be  evangelized  by  a  relative. 
Nathanael,  finally,  was  brought  to  his  Lord  by  a 
friend.  Jesus  has,  in  truth,  as  many  methods  of  gain- 
ing human  hearts  as  there  are  different  individuals  in 
the  world' — and  no  two  people  are  alike. 


34  SAIN7  JOHN 


Once  more,  let  us  notice  that  our  Lord  had  a  special 
way  of  treating  each  new  follower.  His  first  words  to 
St.  John  and  St.  Andrew  were:  "What  seek  ye?" 
And  thus  He  made  them  examine  their  own  motives  in 
coming-  to  Him.  But  He,  Himself,  searched  the  hearts 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Nathanael.  Furthermore,-  He  im- 
plied that  He  disapproved  of  the  natural  man  He  saw 
in  St.  Peter,  but  promised  him  that  Simon,  son  of 
Jonah,  should,  for  all  his  instability,  become  Cephas,  a 
stone  hewn  out  of  the  side  of  the  Rock  of  Ages.  On 
the  other  hand.  He  approved  of  the  guilelessness  He 
found  in  St.  Nathanael  and  promised  him  the  vision 
of  his  Lord's  enthronement  among  the  holy  angels 
(i:  51).  It  muist  have  required  supreme  trust  in  Him 
to  keep  them  content,  from  the  first,  with  such  varied 
treatment  as  this ;  and  cannot  we,  like  them,  confide  in 
the  infinite  love  of  our  Saviour  to  deal  with  each  of 
us  as  is  best  for  him?  . 

^^e  ipourtl^  3KMeefe  in  anbent*  Read  St.  John  i :  45-51 

W^t  jFouttS  &untia^  in  jatitent 

'Bible  dtuDp  anD  ^eDitation 

The  few  rapid  strokes  by  which  St.  John  portrays 
for  us  St.  Nathanael,  reveal  that  he  was  particularly 
notable  for  a  habit  of  reading  and  dwelling  upon  the 
Old'  Testament  prophecies  of  the  Messiah.  His  inti- 
mate friend  could  describe  Christ  to  him  sufficiently 
as  He  "of  Whom  Moses  wrote,  and  the  prophets." 
The  very  form  of  the  sentence  seems  to  imply  that  the 
two  had  often  studied  together  the  Old  Testament 
teaching  about  Christ.  As  an  ancient  writer  para- 
phrases St  Philip's  announcement,  it  was  as  if  he  had 
said,  "We  have  found  Whom  we  sought,  Whom  we 


SAINT  JOHN  35 


looked  forward  to  having",  Whom  the  Scriptures  prom- 
ised." There  under  the  fig  tree,  in  his  garden,  he 
seems,  at  the  time  he  was  called,  to  have  been  medi- 
tating upon  Jacob's  vision  of  the  angels  ascending  to 
Jehovah  in  Heaven  and  returning  to  earth  laden  with 
His  gifts  for  men.  But  when  would  the  time  arrive 
that  Jehovah  Himself  would  come  down  and  save  His 
people ! 

Thus  he  had,  through  devout  pondering  on  the  Holy 
Scripture,  become  a  member  of  that  little  group  who 
'iooked  for  redemption  in  Israel" ;  and  he  had  laid 
hold  on  the  deeper  truths  about  Messiah  revealed  in 
the  Old  Testament,  so  that  he  was  not  constrained  by 
the  contemporary  Jewish  traditions.  "Search  and 
look,"  said  the  rabbis,  ''for  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no 
prophet."  But  by  prayer  and  loving  study  of  the 
Bible,  St.  Nathanael  had  gained  the  power  to  transcend 
such  prejudices.  "The  remnant  of  Israel"  to  which  he 
belonged,  holy  souls  who  waited  for  Christ  to  be  their 
Consolation,  were  throughout  His  ministry,  a  source 
of  great  happiness  and  courage  to  His  sacred  Heart. 
Some  of  them  waited  upon  their  Infant  Lord  in  the 
Cave  of  the  Nativity ;  and  in  the  Temple,  in  the  midst 
of  His  strug-gles  with  the  Pharisees,  He  remembered 
them^  with  joy  and  spoke  of  them  as  the  sheep  who  had 
not  heard  the  voice  of  the  false  shepherds  (x:5,  8). 
Thus  St.  Nathanael  was  taught  by  meditation  on  Holy 
Writ  to  be  indeed  what  his  name  implies,  "the  gift  of 
God,"  to  our  Lord.  And,  just  as  truly,  each  one  who 
accepts  the  pure  Catholic  Religion,  without  addition 
or  subtraction,  is  a  joy  to  Him,  and  must  be  only  the 
more  loyal  to  Him  if  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful 
is  small. 

Christ  richly  rewarded  our  Saint's  study  and  medi- 


36  SAINT  JOHN 


tation,  and  the  desire  for  Him  which  was  developed  by 
these  means.  Not  only  did  He  call  him  to  be  an  Apos- 
tle, but  so  eager  was  the  Divine  Love  which  responded 
to  his  door  human  love,  that  It  outran  St.  Philip  and 
was  already  drawing  his  heart  to  his  Master  before  his 
friend  arrived.  "Before  that  Philip  called  thee,"  Jesus 
said  unto  him:  ''When  thou  wast  under  the  fig  tree, 
I  saw  thee."  Thus  He  ever  loves  to  see  His  people  at 
meditation  and  to  satisfy  the  desire  for  Himself  which 
it  stimulates  and  develops., 

W^t  f  outtS  apondap  (n  ^dbent 

iLotae  Conisecratee  ^Dbistacleis 

St.  Philip  was  from  Bethsaida,  which  was  the  city 
also  of  Ss.  Andrew  and  Peter  and  of  St.  Philip's 
brother,  St.  James.  They  must  have  grown  up,  there- 
fore, in  one  of  the  most  wicked  cities  of  Palestine, 
upon  which  our  gentle  Saviour  pronounced  a  terrible 
judgment  because  of  its  iniquity  (St.  Matt,  xi:  21  f.). 
They  became  Apostles  and  Saints  in  spite  of  their  en- 
vironment, and  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  Twelve 
who  were  faithful.  One  only  of  the  Apostolic  Band 
was  not  a  Galilean,  and  that  was  Judas  Iscariot,  whose 
surname  shows  that  he  came  from  Kerioth,  a  suburb 
of  Jerusalem.  Every  spiritual  privilege  and  opportu^ 
nity  must  have  been  his  from  his  boyhood,  yet  he  be- 
came the  traitor  and,  by  suicide,  went  to  his  own  place. 

Jesus  distinguished  St.  Philip  by  an  extraordinary 
mark  of  devotion  to  him.  He  journeyed  into  Gailee, 
probably  to  Bethsaida,  in  order  to  find  him;  and  this 
fact  is  the  more  remarkable  because  it  is  not  recorded 
of  any  other  that  our  Lord  sought  him  out.  Perhaps, 
however,  we  discover  the  reason  for  this  unique  voca- 


SAINT  JOHN  37 


tion  when  we  read  that  Christ  had  only  to  say  to  him: 
'*  Follow  Me,"  and  he  immediately  followed.  He  seems 
to  have  made  it  appropriate  for  our  Lord  to  bestow 
upon  him  this  great  favor  of  calling  him  in  Person, 
by  the  way  he  had  transcended  the  obstacle  of  his  evil 
surroundings,  and  probably  had  even  learned  from 
them  a  greater  hatred  of  the  world  and  a  deeper  real- 
ization of  his  need  of  God. 

And  not  only  was  he  obliged  thus  to  convert  the 
environment  of  the  wicked  Bethsaida  to  his  spiritual 
ends,  but  he  must  needs  consecrate  a  temperament 
which  was  remarkably  hostile  to  supernatural  truth, 
for  he  was  one  of  those  people  who  are  disposed  to 
believe  nothing  except  what  they  can  see.  Once  our 
Lord  said  to  His  Apostles  that  in  a  true  sense  they 
already  knew  the  Father  and  had  seen  Him,  and 
Philip,  characteristically,  answered  Him,  ''Lord,  show 
us  the  Father  and  it  sufficeth  us."  But  not  only  did  he 
overcome  his  natural  antipathy  to  belief  in  the  invisible 
things  of  God,  but  he  actually  turned  his  temperament 
to  account.  For,  when  he  had  himself  become  satis- 
fied that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  he  ever  after  went 
about  inviting  people  to  "come  and  see"  our  Lord  and 
be  themselves  convinced  of  His  unseen  Divinity.  He 
knew  that  Jesus  had  perfectly  satisfied  him,  and  recog- 
nizing the  difficulty  of  his  Master's  task  in  converting 
persons  of  his  sort,  he  hit  upon  this  plan  of  leading 
them  to  see  the  evidence  they  demanded  in  the  patent 
holiness  and  miracles  of  Christ.  With  his  example 
before  us,  we  can  never  charge  our  environment  or 
our  natural  dispositions  with  our  unbelief  or  lack  of 
devotion.  Let  us  rather  consecrate  the  circumstances 
of  our  daily  life  and  make  them  help  us  to  be  more 
perfect  servants  of  Jesus. 


38  SAINT  JOHN 


%\t  JFottttfi  ttue0tia^  in  janbent 

SI  C^olp  Influence 

St.  Andrew  is  chiefly  remarkable,  in  St.  John's 
sketch  of  him,  for  the  influence  he  exerted  upon  his 
brethern.  His  very  first  notable  act  is  to  bring  his  own 
brother  to  Jesus.  In  Church  history,  he  is  nothing, 
one  might  almost  say,  and  St.  Peter  is  much,  yet  would 
there  have  been  a  St.  Peter,  except  for  the  holy  influ- 
ence of  St.  Andrew  ? 

He  was  one  of  the  first  two  disciples,  and  we  would 
have  supposed  that  Christ  would  have  included  him 
among  the  three  who  constituted  the  innermost  group 
of  his  Apostles.  But  he  was  passed  over  and  St. 
Peter  and  St.  James,  the  next  two  who  came  to  our 
Lord,  were  chosen.  No  doubt  Divine  Wisdom  knew 
that  it  was  best  to  leave  him  to  exercise  his  blessed 
helpfulness  among  the  rank  and  file  of  the  disciples. 
Prominence  would  have  marred  or  perhaps  taken  away 
St.  Andrew's  opportunity. 

Presently,  however,  we  see  that  through  his  exer- 
cising influence  with  men  for  Christ,  he  speedily  gained 
influence  with  Christ  for  men.  The  lad  with  the  loaves 
and  fishes  found  in  him  a  mediator  through  whom  he 
ventured  to  make  his  humble  ofifering  (vi:8f.). 
Again,  when  the  Greeks  came  desiring  to  see  Jesus, 
they  approached  St.  Philip,  whose  name  was  Greek, 
but  he  begged  St.  Andrew  to  intercede  for  them  with 
Christ  (xii:  20  flf.).  Finally,  when  the  central  circle 
of  the  Apostolic  College  wished  to  obtain  from  their 
Master  a  revelation  as  to  the  time  when  the  Temple 
would  be  destroyed,  they  seem  to  have  asked  St.  An- 
drew to  assist  them  (St.  Mark  xiii :  3).  Let  us,  then, 
remember  that  this  great  servant  of  our  King  still  by 


SAINT  JOHN  39 


his  prayers  in  Heaven  seeks  his  brother  in  the  world, 
and  has  a  migfhty  influence  on  behalf  of  his  clients 
with  the  Judge  of  all.  . 

W^t  JFouttS  diOIetine^tiap  in  unbent 

^t)e  StiQelis  anH  t^e  i3on  of  ^an 

It  is  thought  that  our  Lord's  reception  of  St.  Na- 
thanael  took  place  near  Bethel  and  Peniel,  both  of 
which  were  scenes  of  Jacob's  visions  of  Jehovah  sur- 
rounded by  angels  (Gen.  xxviii:  12-22;  xxxii :  2,  24- 
30).  If  so,  Jesus  has  taken  advantage  of  this  fact 
about  the  locality  to  facilitate  His  hearers'  acceptance 
of  a  very  great  revelation  about  Himself.  For,  as  the 
entire  host  of  the  angels  met  Jacob  at  Mahanaim,  or  as 
it  is  also  called  Peniel,  and  a  Man  was  in  their  midst 
Whom  the  Patriarch  recognized  as  God,  so,  Christ 
promised  them,  they  would  some  day  see  Him,  the  Son 
of  Man,  with  the  whole  company  of  His  angels  doing 
Him:  homage.  ''Hereafter,"  He  said  with  His  doubly 
solemn  'Verily,  verily,"  "ye  shall  see  Heaven  open,  and 
the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the 
'Son  of  Man." 

But  it  is  Bethel  which  is  evidently  more  in  our 
Lord's  view.  Now,  Bethel  means  the  "House  of  God." 
Jacob,  after  his  vision  there  set  up  the  stone,  which 
had  been  his  pillow,  for  an  altar,  whereon  he  after- 
ward offered  sacrifice  to  Jehovah.  In  fact,  Bethel  was 
a  church,  but  it  was  an  empty  church,  out  of  which 
the  angels  were  ascending  to  Jehovah  in  Heaven.  In 
contrast  with  it,  Jesus  teaches  that  our  House  of  God 
is  to  have  Jehovah  Incarnate  present  in  it.  But  there 
is  only  one  way  in  which  this  is  possible,  for  our  Lord 
is  present  as  Mom,  on  earth,  only  in  the  Blessed  Sacra- 


40  SAINT  JOHN 


ment.  Therefore,  He  meant  that,  when  the  words  of 
consecration  have  been  said,  we  are  with  our  spiritual 
eyes  to  behold  the  whole  host  of  Heaven  "descending 
upon  the  Son  of  Man." 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  only  two  passages  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  and  Epistles  which  speak  of  angels,  he 
represents  them  as  a  guard  of  honor  about  the  Body 
of  Qirist  (cp.  XX :  12).  Their  ardent,  perfect  devo- 
tion to  our  Lord  was  a  great  example  and  stimulus  to 
the  Apostolic  Church  (cp.  Heb.  xii :  22;  i  Cor.  xi:  10; 
I  St.  Tim.  v:2i).  Ought  not  we,  also,  to  recollect 
that  "angels  and  archangels  and  all  of  the  company  of 
heaven"  with  us  adore  the  Son  of  Man  as  He  comes 
upon  our  altar?  When  He  said  "the  angels  of  God," 
speaking  of  them  collectively,  He  meant  that  all  the 
nine  choirs  would  be  "descending"  upon  Him  in  the 
New  Bethel.  Let  us,  with  holy  envy,  imitate  that  un- 
selfish love  of  theirs  which  keeps  them  ever  worship- 
ing Him  in  the  Divine  Mysteries,  although  they  can- 
not receive  Him  in  Holy  Communion.  And  let  us,  on 
our  part,  reveal  to  them  the  manifold  fruits  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  in  and  through  us ;  for  they  can 
never  know  the  power  of  Christ  in  its  most  miraculous 
operations,  unless  we,  each  one,  display  the  conquest 
of  His  grace  over  our  self-will. 


W^t  Conisecration  of  t^e  $on  of  6(9an 

St.  John  reveals  to  us  that  all  three  Persons  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity  participated  in  the  consecration  of 
Jesus'  Manhood.  At  the  moment  of  Its  creation,  the 
Father  consecrated  Him   (x:  36).    When  the  Divine 


SAINT  JOHN  41 


Dove  descended  upon  Him  at  His  Baptism,  this  was 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  His  Human 
Soul,  creating  a  still  more  overflowing"  measure  of 
grace.  Finally,  just  the  night  before  He  suffered,  He 
consecrated  Himself  to  be  a  very  Sacrament  of  Love 
for  the  offering  He  was  about  to  make  of  Himself 
upon  the  Cross  (xvii:  19).  By  this  threefold  conse- 
cration He  was  filled  with  all  the  blessings  which 
Divine  Wisdom  foresaw  we  would  need  for  our  salva- 
tion. 

"He  was  full  of  grace  and  truth."  Grace  is  the 
choicest  fruit  of  Divine  Love,  because  it  not  only 
saves  the  soul  into  which  it  is  infused,  but  imparts  to 
it  a  beauty  so  like  that  of  God  that  it  becomes  the 
object  of  the  angels'  wonder  and  love.  The  fulness 
of  truth  which  He  brought  replaced  pathetic  uncer- 
tainty, even  about  our  immortality,  which  was  known 
even  to  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  but  imperfect- 
ly (cp.  2  St.  Tim.  i:  10).  At  His  Incarnation,  more- 
over, the  Father  gave  into  his  Human  Hand  dominion 
over  all  thins,  that  He  might  administer  them  for  His 
people  (iii :  35).  One  more  blessing  was  the  gift  to  us 
in  Jesus  of  the  fulness  of  life  (x:  10). 

Two  great  truths  appear  from  this  Divine  largess 
so  prodigally  poured  out  to  us  in  the  consecrated 
Humanity  of  Christ:  (a)  Our  salvation  must  be  of 
exceeding  importance  in  God's  eyes.  By  holding  us 
worth  the  price  of  His  Son's  Life,  He  challenges  us  to 
prize  ourselves  at  as  dear  a  rate,  and  not  to  sell  out 
for  some  paltry  bauble  of  Satan,  (b)  It  is  the  nature 
of  love  to  communicate  itself  and  this  is  as  true  of 
Divine  Charity  in  us  as  in  God.  Let  us  then  hear  Him 
saying  to  each  one  of  us,  "I  will  bless  thee,  and  thou 
shalt  be  a  blessing"  (Gen.  xii  \2). 


42  SAINT  JOHN 


(lE:firi0tma0  (Cbe 

C|)ri0t'f  JFaborite  ^itU  (or  i^im^elf 

After  Jesus  had  been  called  by  others  the  Lamb  of 
God,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Messiah,  and  the  theocratic 
King  of  Israel,  and  had  revealed  Himself  to  be  "God 
only  begotten  Who  is  in  the  Bosom  of  the  Father," 
none  of  these  magnificent  titles  of  humanity  and  even 
Deity  did  He  prefer  for  Himself,  but  the  simple,  hum- 
ble phrase,  ''Son  of  Man."  He  loved  this  greatly,  as 
appears  from  the  fact  that  He  used  it  of  Himself  eighty 
times  in  the  Gospels. 

In  marked  contrast  with  this  custom  of  our  Saviour, 
is  the  manner  in  which  all  the  Evangelists  and  sacred 
writers  entirely  avoid  calling  Christ  the  Son  of  Man. 
Naturally,  they  objected  to  applying  to  Him  a  title 
which  had  hardly  any  reference  to  the  messiah  in  the 
Psalms  and  prophecies.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  sig- 
nifies the  humility  and  weakness  of  man.  Thus  the 
Psalmist  speaks  of  the  "son  of  man  whom  God  has 
made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels"  (Ps.  viii:  5)  ;  and 
God  addresses  Ezekiel  by  this  same  phrase,  in  order  to 
remind  him  that  he  shares  the  frailties  of  his  fellow- 
Israelites  (ii:  I,  3,  6,  etc.).  Inevitably,  it  seemed  to 
those  lovers  of  our  Lord,  the  saints  who  surrounded 
Him,  that  "Son  of  Man"  was  too  poor  and  lowly  a 
designation  for  the  Son  of  God. 

But  why  did  our  Lord  prefer  to  call  Himself  "the 
Son  of  Man"?  It  was  because  this  title  proclaimed  His 
essential  kinship  with  every  member  of  our  race.  It 
imDlic?  what  St.  John  teaches  in  another  form  when 
he  says  that  the  Word  became  flesh,  that  is.  that  God 
the  Son  took  all  humanity.     Both  sexes,  all  the  five 


SAINT  JOHN  43 


families  of  mankind,  and  all  generations  share  in  His 
Human  Nature.  This  is  why  we  find  Him  displaying 
the  moral  qualities  of  the  perfect  woman  together 
with  the  characteristics  of  the  finest  and  truest  gentle- 
man. It  explains  to  us  why  Jesus  belongs  to  every 
people  and  age.  It  shows  us,  too,  that  He  is  the  near- 
est and  dearest  of  all,  to  each  one  of  us.  For  to  each 
He  is  as  the  Eldest  Son.     . 

C|)r(0tma0  2Dap 

Wc)t  Son  of  6oti  X^^z  Hober  of  2Dur  Eace 

Jesus  proved  Himself  to  be  the  infallible,  and  most 
loving,  Interpreter  of  our  race.  We  have  already 
found  Him  looking  into  the  hearts  of  men  and  read- 
ing them  with  perfect  insight  and  infinite  charity. 
His  immediate  appreciation  of  St.  Nathanael  is,  how- 
ever, particularly  beautiful,  because  it  stands  in  con- 
trast with  what  seems  to  have  been  the  latter's  failure, 
at  first,  to  appreciate  Him.  Cana,  where  St.  Nathanael 
lived  (xxi:  2),  was  very  near  Nazareth,  and  St.  Philip, 
in  calling  his  friend,  refers  to  Christ  by  the  name  for 
Him  which  was  used  among  the  people  of  His  home 
village,  "Jesus  the  Son  of  Joseph."  Apparently,  both 
men  knew  our  Lord,  but  St.  Nathanael  had  not  rightly 
interpreted  Him,  or  he  could  never  have  said,  "Can 
there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?"  Yet  at 
that  very  moment,  our  Lord  *'saw"  into  his  heart  of 
hearts  and  was  dwelling  upon  the  virtue  for  which  he 
was  remarkable,  his  guilelessness.  For  Jesus  Christ, 
Whom  we  so  often  misunderstand  and  undervalue, 
always  accepts  us  at  our  best. 

Jesus  is  the  perfect  Man.  All  talent  and  all  genius 
found  their  highest  perfection  in  that  Human  Mind, 


44  SAINT  JOHN 


Which  was  united  to  Deity,  and  received  by  reflection 
from,  the  Divine  Person  all  knowledge  which  It  could 
have  and  remain  Human.  Moreover,  He  was  Man  and 
had  in  Himself  the  perfection  of  humanity.  ''All  that 
truly  belongs  to  every  individual  in  the  race,"  said  Bp. 
Westcott,  "belongs  to  Him."  Thus  He  possessed  the 
genius  of  the  poet,  the  painter  and  the  musician, 
and  that  in  a  degree  only  less  than  infinite  because  of 
the  essential  limitations  of  His  Human  Soul.  And 
every  truth  of  science  and  every  inspiration  of  human 
artists  is  an  adumbration  from  the  Mind  of  Jesus.  For 
He  is  "the  true  Light  which  lighteth  every  man"  and 
is  continually  "coming  into"  the  world  with  the  gifts 
of  civilization. 

Jesus  made  one  proud  claim  upon  His  people  because 
He  was  the  Son  of  God.  It  was  that  He  was  entitled 
to  work  for  men  on  the  Sabbath.  "My  Father  worketh 
even  until  now,"  He  insisted,  "and  I  work"  (vii/, 
A.  V.  Marg.).  He  meant  that  He  and  His  Father  were 
accustomed  to  labor  for  men  without  respite,  through- 
out the  seven  days  of  the  week.  Time  was,  when  God 
took  His  Sabbath's  rest,  for  we  read  that,  before  the 
fall  of  man  He  rested  on  the  seventh  day  (Gen.  ii.  2). 
But  when  His  children  turned  against  Him,  struck 
hands  with  His  mortal  foe,  and  spoiled  the  good  world 
which  He  had  created.  He  renounced  His  Sabbath  re- 
pose, because  our  race  in  its  weakness  would  need 
His  utmost  Providence.  How  can  we  love  and  bless 
God  enough  for  making  Himself  the  servant  of  His 
fallen  creatures,  and  for  coming  into  our  world  to 
reveal  the  dear  truth  of  His  sleepless,  infinite  love  for 
us! 


SAINT  JOHN  45 


©urtnc  X^z  flDctabf  ef  ei^rf^tma^*  Read  St.  John  ii :  i-ii 

Conisecrttion  ^|)rou0|)  t|)e  don  of  ^an 

The  first  miracle  wrought  by  our  Lord  was  in  no 
sense  an  impromptu  occurrence.  He  evidently  waited, 
at  St.  Nathanael's  house  it  seems,  for  the  occasion  of 
the  wedding,  in  order  by  the  "sign"  to  manifest  His 
glory,  and  gain  the  faith  of  His  new  disciples.  The 
miracle  which  followed,  after  three  days,  displayed, 
with  almost  unparalleled  clearness,  our  Lord's  power 
to  convert  very  inferior  material  into  means  which  He 
can  use  for  the  purpose  of  His  perfect  wisdom  and 
love.  He  could  change  water  into  wine,  and  after- 
wards He  could  consecrate  wine  to  be  the  Sacrament 
of  His  Blood.  In  one  way,  it  was  a  work  of  still 
greater  power  when  He  changed  passionate  Stephen 
into  loving  Stephen,  since  the  free  will  of  the  man 
might  have  resisted  Him  as  material  elements  could 
not. 

The  martyr  whom  we  commemorate  to-day,  is  the 
only  person  in  the  New  Testament  except  our  Lord 
Himself,  w^ho  ever  spoke  of  Him  as  the  Son  of  Man 
(Acts  vii :  56).  St.  Stephen  had  been  inveighing 
against  the  perverse  unbelief  of  the  Jews.  "Ye  stiff- 
necked  and  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears,"  was  his 
terrible  rebuke,  *'Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost." 
His  denunciation  of  them  was,  indeed,  so  severe  that 
his  words,  in  the  expressive  verb  of  the  original,  "sawed 
through  their  hearts,"  and  "they  gnashed  on  him  with 
their  teeth."  It  was  then  that  Jesus  in  Heaven  ap- 
peared to  His  servant  with  such  marks  of  His  own 
Passion  in  His  glorified  Body,  that  St.  Stephen  could 


46  SAINT  JOHN 


not  but  recognize  in  Him  his  Fellow,  the  Son  of  Man, 
Who  had  preceded  him  in  passing  through  the  agony 
of  persecution  and  martyrdom.  The  effect  upon  the 
holy  Deacon  was  immediately  to  make  him  wonder- 
fully gentle  and  loving  toward  his  murderers. 

He  was  led  out  to  die  at  the  usual  place  of  Jewish 
executions,  which  seems  to  have  been  near  Calvary. 
Certainly,  St.  Stephen  was  reminded  by  his  vision,  if 
not  by  the  locality,  of  the  way  in  which  our  Saviour 
had  endured  His  Cross.  As  the  stones  fell  thick  and 
fast  upon  him,  he  imitated  the  first  and  last  words  of 
his  crucified  Master.  As  Christ  had  said,  "Father,  for- 
give them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  so  he 
"cried  with  a  loud  voice.  Lord  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge."  And  as  our  Lord  had,  at  the  last,  commended 
His  Spirit  into  His  Father's  hands,  so  His  servant 
prayed  saying,  ''Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  Thus 
was  the  best  wine  saved  until  the  last,  and  then  con- 
secrated for  Jesus'  great  purpose  of  love.  For  Saul, 
who  was  keeping  the  witnesses'  clothes,  and  by  that 
very  office  signifying  that  he  assumed  the  chief  re- 
sponsibility for  the  deed,  was  a  "chosen  vessel"  of  our 
Lord  (Acts  ix:i5).  By  Stephen's  saintly  death  the 
first  step  was  taken  toward  filling  him  from  the  mar- 
tyr's soul  with  the  precious  vintage  of  Divine  Love, 
that  in  him  it  might  be  borne  unto  the  Gentiles  (cp. 
Acts  ix:  5,  where  St.  Stephen's  last  words  are  the 
"goads").  May  Jesus  so  fill  this  stony  water-pot  in 
my  breast  with  His  best  wine  that  at  least  one  other 
soul  may  become  His  chosen  vessel  brimming  with  love 
for  Him! 


SAINT  JOHN  47 


S|)e  €on0rcratton  of  2Dur  ^ill0 

In  the  training  of  our  Lord's  youngest  Apostle,  the 
great  necessity  was  that  He  should  teach  him  to  con- 
secrate his  will  so  that  he  could  wait  calmly  until  his 
Master's  hour  should  come.  St.  John  must  learn  to 
''tarry  the  Lord's  leisure,"  and  to  fulfill  the  Divine 
purpose  for  him  in  every  detail  throughout  his  long 
life.  He  must  know  how  to  go  forward,  step  by  step, 
deliberately,  yet  always  with  prompt  obedience  to  the 
will  of  his  Lord.  In  this  extraordinarily  difficult  les- 
son, our  Lord  was  his  perfect  Preceptor.  Long  before 
He  declared  in  words  the  guiding  principle  of  the 
Beloved  Disciple's  life  (xxi:  22  f.),  He  instructed  him 
by  His  own  example.  For  it  has  been  truly  said  that 
men  feel  the  sorest  strain  about  an  enterprise  when 
they  first  begin  it,  and  when  they  finish.  At  those  two 
times,  they  retire  into  strict  seclusion,  perhaps  admit- 
ting a  very  few  intimates,  and  there,  behind  locked 
doors,  feverishly,  sleeplessly,  labor  and  plan.  But  our 
Lord,  at  both  these  crucial  times,  in  what  was  infinitely 
the  greatest  enterprise  ever  undertaken  in  the  world, 
attended  festival  meals.  For  He  inaugurated  His  Min- 
istry at  the  wedding  feast  of  Cana,  and  prefaced  its 
conclusion  on  the  Cross  by  the  supper  in  his  honor  at 
Bethany  (xii:  i  f.).  The  young  Evangelist  could  not 
have  had  more  impressive  lessons  in  that  perfect,  calm 
consecration  of  his  will,  which  in  fact  he  displays 
more  and  more  during  the  threescore  years  of  his  life 
after  Pentecost. 

The  narrative  of  this  miracle  is  peculiar  to  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  and  evidently  it  had  impressed  itself 
profoundly  upon  St.  John.    Often  and  often,  during 


48  SAINT  JOHN 


the  years  of  his  life  with  the  Blessed  Virgin  after 
Christ  committed  her  to  his  charge  they  had  talked  it 
over,  and  she  had  supplied  those  details  which  had 
been  known  only  to  her.  For  no  doubt,  this  was  an 
epoch-making  day  in  his  life,  when  the  water  of  his 
natural  weakness  was  changed  to  the  precious  wine  of 
a  great  love  for  Jesus,  and  he  consecrated  himself 
wholly  to  his  Lord.  It  is  this  spiritual  truth,  we  may 
suppose,  which  underHes  the  old  legend  that  the  wed- 
ding at  Cana  was  his  own,  and  that  after  the  miracle, 
he  forsook  his  bride  to  follow  Christ.  He  did  indeed, 
on  this  occasion  break,  once  for  all,  many  natural 
bonds,  in  order  to  give  himself  without  reservation  to 
his  Master. 

There  is  a  proof  that  St.  John  at  this  marriage  made 
a  new  and  complete  dedication  to  Jesus,  in  the  fact 
that  for  the  first  time  he  tells  us,  ''His  disciples  be- 
lieved on  Him."  For  the  original  words  mean,  literal- 
ly, that  they  ''believed  into  Him."  The  expression  oc- 
curs frequently  in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  and  always 
means  a  faith  which  involves  entire  surrender.  The 
aged  Evangelist  must  have  remembered  with  a  quick- 
ened heart  that  day  on  which  he  had  first  trusted  his 
Saviour  absolutely.  Let  us  celebrate  his  festival  by 
"believing  into"  Jesus  with  fresh  and  more  perfect 
consecration  of  our  every  thought  to  His  will. 

W^t  ^olp  JnnocenW  2Dap 

W^t  ^ualitiee  of  Cljriist'is  lobing  I^otDer 

The  first  miracle  shows,  among  other  blessed  truths 
about  Christ,  that  His  interest  and  sympathy  extend 
to  every  age  of  our  human  life.    He  is  as  really  en- 


SAINT  JOHN  49 


gaged  with  the  wedding  of  these  young  people  as,  in 
other  connections,  He  was  occupied  in  blessing  little 
children  and  in  teaching  old  Nicodemus.  Probably 
the  three  feasts  immediately  following  Christmas  are 
meant  to  suggest  this  same  truth,  that  Jesus  has  infi- 
nite love  for  old  and  young — for  the  baby  Innocents, 
and  for  St.  Stephen  in  the  bloom  of  young  manhood, 
and  for  St.  John.  His  loving  power  touches  our  life 
at  every  point.  To-day  He  is  blessing  the  marriage  of 
these  simple  Galilean  peasants;  within  the  week  He 
will  be  purifying  public  worship  at  Jerusalem.  Let  us 
strive  to  realize,  on  this  feast  of  the  Holy  Innocents, 
that  no  human  life  is  so  young,  or  obscure,  or  poor, 
that  He  does  not  long  to  bless  and  sanctify  it  wholly. 

Our  Saviour's  sanctifying  grace,  moreover,  is  un- 
merited. The  infants,  who  were  slain  in  His  stead 
were,  according  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  not 
only  speedily  received  into  Heaven,  but  were  also 
numbered  among  the  greater  Saints.  St.  John  seems 
to  have  them  in  mind  when  he  speaks  of  those  follow- 
ers of  the  Lamb  in  the  Church  Triumphant  who  have 
been  "redeemed  from  among  men,  being  the  first  fruits 
unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb"  (Rev.  xiv:  4).  But  they 
were  not  martyrs  in  will,  nor  did  their  baby  souls  dis- 
play heroic  sanctity.  Their  place  among  the  Saints, 
therefore,  is  the  gift  of  God's  uncovenanted  mercy. 
Yet  their  beatification  was  only  one  more  act  of  His 
gratuitous  love  for  them.  He  had  become  incarnate 
in  order  to  save  our  race  when  it  not  only  merited 
nothing  from  Him,  but  when  it  deserved  damnation. 
He  had  turned  man's  very  sin  into  a  felix  culpa,  an 
occasion  of  ineffable  blessedness.  This  Divine  Charity 
had  first  redeemed  and  then  beatified  the  Infant  Mar- 
tyrs of  this  day.    Christ  gave  them  the  pure  water  of 


50  SAINT  JOHN 


sanctifying  grace  in  their  souls,  in  anticipation  of  His 
meritorious  Cross,  and  then  converted  this  into  the 
wine  of  extraordinary  sanctity,  all  for  the  sole  reason 
that  He  loved  them. 

Christ's  power  for  good  was  prodigal  toward  others, 
while  it  left  His  Humanity  unaided.  He  would  not 
turn  a  stone  to  a  loaf  of  bread  for  Himself,  but  He 
changed  water  to  the  most  delicious  wine  for  others. 
And  the  uncalculating  lavishness  of  His  Love  is  ex- 
emplified by  the  fact  that  Hfe  made  for  these  poor  peas- 
ants about  one  hundred  gallons,  of  the  best  vintage. 
In  the  same  characteristic  way,  He  gave  to  the  Holy 
Innocents,  in  return  for  one  swift  stab  of  pain,  over 
perhaps  before  they  perceived  it,  Heaven  and  a  place 
very  near  His  Throne,  forever.  How  often  during  my 
whole  life  has  this  overflowing  Providence  of  Christ 
poured  its  benefits  upon  my  soul,  simply  because  I 
permitted  Him  to^  bestow  His  spiritual  largess !  Shall 
I  not  show  my  gratitude  to  this  dear  Guest,  by  fre- 
quently calling  Him'  to  share,  not  only  my  sorrows,  but 
my  feasts?  v 

iPfttS  2Dap  in  i\t  (CStWtmad  flDctabe 

W^t  ^ot|)er  of  2Dur  HorU 

This  is  the  only  miracle  in  which  the  Blessed  Virgin 
appears  as  an  actor,  except  the  miracle  wrought  in  her 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  when  she  conceived  Christ.  So 
great  is  the  economy  observed  by  St.  John  in  his  sacred 
narrative,  that  he  would  not  have  referred  to  her  part 
in  the  providing  of  the  wine,  if  it  had  not  been  very  im- 
portant. As  we  study  the  miracle,  moreover,  we  see 
that  she  supplied  an  absolutely  essential  element.  For, 
in  the  similar  cases,  our  Lord  reveals  that  there  must 


SAINT  JOHN  51 


be  faith,  either  in  the  recipient  of  the  extraordinary 
favor,  or  in  his  representative.  We  find  Him  saying, 
"According  to  youir  faith  be  it  unto  you,"  and,  "Thy 
faith  hath  saved  thee"  (St.  Matt,  ix:  29;  St.  Luke 
vii:  50).  Now  the  Holy  Mother,  by  becoming  the 
intercessor  for  the  young  married  people,  identified 
herself  with  them,  and  on  their  behalf  supplied  the 
necessary  faith.  During  the  thirty  years  of  her  life 
with  Jesus  in  Nazareth,  she  had  discerned  His  Divine 
Power,  even  while  it  was  hidden  beneath  the  carpen- 
ter's frock  so  successfully  that  none  others  realized 
aught  but  His  perfect  holiness.  Therefore,  when  these 
poor  folk  brought  their  need  to  her  Son,  she  confi- 
dently expected  Him  to  supply  it,  although  He  could 
do  this  only  by  a  miracle.  When  He  gently  rebuffed 
her,  she  at  once  directed  that  all  preparations  should 
be  made  to  receive  the  blessing  which  she  evidently 
felt  sure  would  be  granted.  She  knew  not  what  the 
answer  to  her  prayer  would  be,  but  she  believed  abso- 
lutely that  it  would  be  both  perfectly  righteous  and 
Divinely  loving.  "Whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you," 
she  said  to  the  servants,  "do  it."  In  this  way,  she  pre- 
sented a  wonderfully  true  example  of  the  "prayer  of 
faith." 

But  not  only  did  she  make  herself  receptive  of 
Jesus'  benefit  as  the  representative  of  her  poor  friends ; 
she  also  created  around  her  that  atmosphere  of  faith 
which  seems  to  have  been  so  essential  wherever  our 
Lord  was  to  manifest  His  power.  In  Nazareth,  which 
was  His  beloved  home,  He  was  hampered  by  human 
incredulity  in  using  His  miraculous  power  for  the  peo- 
ple. "He  did  not  many  mighty  works  there  because 
of  their  unbelief"  (St.  Matt,  xiii :  58;  St.  Mark  vi: 
5f.).    But  the  Blessed  Virgin  so  inspired  these  serv- 


52  SAINT  JOHN 


ants  with  her  own  faith,  that  they  willingly  performed 
two  apparently  useless  acts.  They  filled  the  six  water 
pots  to  the  brim,  when  there  seemed  to  be  no  use  for 
the  water,  since  all  the  guests  had  performed  the  puri- 
fying ablutions.  Then  when  they  were  commanded  to 
do  so,  they  drew  what  they  must  have  supposed  was 
water  to  carry  it  to  the  banquet  in  their  wine  pitchers. 
Few  greater  examples  of  unquestioning  faith  are  given 
us  in  the  Gospel  than  that  which  was  displayed  by  the 
ready  obedience  of  these  servants,  and  they  learned 
their  great  lesson  from  the  dear  Mother  of  our  Lord. 
Yet  this  episode  gives  us  only  one  example  of  the 
"vast"  faith  which  characterized  her  life.  It  made  her 
willing  to  become  the  agent  of  the  Incarnation.  And, 
from  Jesus'  Birth  onward,  it  always  spread  around  her 
the  blessed  contagion  of  belief  in  Him,  without  which 
He  would  have  come,  all-beautiful  and  perfect  as  He 
was,  into  a  world  of  blind  men.  Shall  we  not  love  this 
dear  Virgin  Mother,  and  earnestly  strive  to  imitate 
her? 

9 

&fetS  SDap  In  X\t  C6ti0tma!ef  flDctabe 

C|bri)3t'is  ^O0t  Cfcellent  Wixm 

Our  most  merciful  Saviour  has  from  the  first,  from 
the  time  He  made  Adam  out  of  the  earth,  been  willing 
to  use  inferior  materials  to  help  us.  He  has  given  us 
an  instance  of  this  characteristic  in  His  condescending 
to  employ  the  water  intended  for  foot-washing  and 
ceremonial  ablutions  as  the  means  for  His  first  great 
miracle.  With  far  greater  humility,  but  of  this  same 
gracious  kind.  He  assumed  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh 
in  His  Incarnation.  Indeed  the  Gospel  reveals  clearly 
and  in  detail  the  fact  that  He  so  far  stooped  in  taking 


SAINT  JOHN  53 


our  human  nature,  that  He  even  willed  to  be  born  of 
a  family  in  which  had  been  very  great  and  notorious 
sinners.  Tamar,  Rahab,  and  Bathsheba  are  the  promi- 
nent ancestresses  in  His  genealogy^  not  Sarah,  Rebecca 
and  Rachel  (St.  Matt,  i:  3,  5,  6).  It  seems  plain  that 
he  endured  the  special  mortification  of  accepting  de- 
scent from  progenitors  who  were  even  notably  infe- 
rior, for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  it  is  His  glory 
to  take  the  poorest  materials  and  convert  them  to  the 
noblest  and  most  loving  uses. 

Moreover,  the  wine  which  He  furnished  was  far 
better  than  that  which  had  been  provided  by  the  host, 
good  as  this  latter  probably  was.  In  this  particular, 
His  miracle  is  symbolic  of  the  truth  that,  by  the  power 
of  His  sacraments  and  His  example.  He  imparts  to 
His  people  holiness  far  superior  to  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  character  among  pagans  ancient  or  modern. 
No  doubt  it  is  possible,  especially  for  those  who  live 
within  the  sphere  of  the  Church's  influence,  and  benefit 
by  the  diffused  power  of  Her  Gospel,  to  develop  char- 
acter of  a  very  impressive  kind,  greatly  esteemed  by 
many  who  view  it.  But  the  humility,  penitence  and  love 
toward  God,  which  spring  from  the  conviction  that 
every  thing  good  in  us  is  wrought  solely  by  the  miracle 
of  Jesus'  power — these  essential  qualities  of  the  only 
true  holiness  in  this  world  are  found  nowhere  but  in 
the  souls  of  Christians.  They  spring  from  the  realiza- 
tion that  our  Saviour  has  taken  these  poor  stone  water- 
jars  of  our  hearts,  which  were  all  we  had  to  furnish 
Him,  and  has  filled  them  with  His  best  wine,  His  sanc- 
tifying grace. 

Modern  writers  have  attempted  to  compare  our  Lord 
with  the  greatest  and  noblest  human  teachers.  But 
not  only  is  He  superior  to  them  in  degree,  as  is  ad- 


54  SAINT  JOHN 


mitted  on  all  hands;  He  is  absolutely  different  from 
them  in  kind.  It  has  been  truly  said,  that  where  Soc- 
rates brings  an  argument  to  meet  an  objection,  Jesus 
brings  a  Nature  to  meet  a  nature,  and  a  whole  Being 
filled  with  light  to  meet  a  whole  being  that  error  has 
filled  with  darkness.  In  the  last  analysis,  it  was  not  by 
tlie  miracles  which  Jesus  wrought,  nor  by  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  that  the  world  has  been  revolutionized. 
Man's  redemption  was  wrought  by  the  Incarnation  and 
Passion  of  God.  Only  because  Jesus  was  truly  Divine, 
can  we  believe  in  His  revelations  as  infallible,  and 
trust  in  His  Cross  as  the  Medicine  of  the  world.  It 
was  because  He  was  the)  Incarnate  Word  that  He  had 
power  to  convert  the  water  into  wine  more  delicious 
than  that  of  any  human  vintage.  It  is  for  this  same 
reason  that  His  grace  avails  to  change  these  base 
human  elements  even  into  the  likeness  of  Himself. 


&etient|&  2Dap  xxi  tie  Cgti^tma^  €)ctabe 

Wc}Z  ^lorp  of  ^|)ri0t  JmparteU  to  6@cn 

St.  John's  favorite  word  for  miracles  appears  for  the 
first  time  in  the  passage  before  us.  The  Greek  original 
means  literally  ''signs,"  and  our  Evangelist  by  pre- 
ferring this  to  all  other  terms  for  Christ's  "mighty 
works,"  emphasizes  that  side  of  them  in  which  they 
are  especially  revelations  of  His  Deity.  Of  course,  the 
Apostle  realized  that  they  were  used  to  arrest  the 
attention  of  the  people,  and  start  a  train  of  thought 
which  would  issue  at  length  in  faith.  But  to  him, 
already  a  faithful  disciple,  they  were  most  of  all  mani- 
festations of  Jesus'  Divine  glory. 


SAINT  JOHN  55 


Now,  there  was  one  "sign"  which  transcended  all 
others  to  the  disciples  and  that  was  their  Master's 
Personal  perfection  in  righteousness  and  love.  In 
daily  fellowship  with  Him,  some  of  them  during  all 
the  "hidden  life"  at  Nazareth,  they  had  "beheld  His 
glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  Only-begotten  of  the  Father." 
The  first  miracle  was,  therefore,  but  another  mode  in 
which  He  revealed  that  same  Character  of  holiness  and 
mercy  which,  perhaps  for  thirty  years,  they  had  known 
and  loved. 

If,  like  these  first  disciples,  we  believe  "on  Jesus," 
or,  more  literally,  "into  Jesus,"  He  imparts  to  us  as 
He  did  to  them  a  share  in  His  Divine  glory.  Indeed, 
it  was  His  purpose  in  the  Incarnation  to  bestow  His 
glory  upon  us.  There  is  a  beautiful  legend  which  may 
serve  as  a  parable  of  this  truth.  When  the  Incarnate 
Vv^ord  lay  as  a  little  Baby  in  the  manger,  an  insect,  in 
color  very  like  the  ground  upon  which  it  crawled,  per- 
ceived that  the  beautiful  Infant  had  no  gift  in  His 
Hand.  Thereupon,  it  crept  to  Him  and  placed  in  His 
tiny  Palm  a  poor,  faded  flower.  Then  the  Holy  One. 
smiling,  took  from  the  straw  of  His  manger  a  moon- 
beam and  bestowed  it  upon  the  earth-worm.  Thus, 
the  old  story  concludes,  the  firefly  obtained  its  little 
lantern.  Now  we  "humans"  are,  as  the  very  word 
indicates,  taken  from  "humus,"  the  "earth."  But  God 
has  come  to  us  to  endow  each  earth-worm  with  the 
glory  of  His  Personality,  if  only  we  bring  Him  the 
poor,  half-spoiled  thing  which  is  our  all.  "The  glory 
which  thou  hast  given  me,"  He  said  to  His  Father,  "I 
have  given  them"  (xvii:22). 


56  SAINT  JOHN 


W^z  Ctrcumci0ton 

IFillinQ  2Dur  EeltQton  taiit|)  Hobe 

"And  there  were  set  there  six  water-pots  of  stone, 
after  the  manner  of  the  purifying  of  the  Jews."  Each 
guest  of  the  marriage  feast  had  carefully  cleansed  his 
entire  fore-arm  with  the  water,  until  it  dropped  from 
his  elbows,  so  that  he  might  be  ritually  clean  for  the 
meal.  But  Divine  Love  converted  what  was  thus  of 
only  ceremonial  importance  into  a  means  of  manifest- 
ing His  glory  and  of  satisfying  human  need.  The 
miracle,  when  considered  in  this  way,  is  quite  anal- 
ogous to  the  method  in  which  our  Saviour's  charity 
filled  the  ceremony  of  His  cricumcision  with  a  most 
blessed  content.  For  Him,  sinless,  and  already  named 
by  the  message  from  the  Father  (St.  Luke  i :  41),  the 
rite  was  in  itself  a  mere  external  ceremony.  Yet  God's 
dear  Son  converted  it  into  a  wonderful  manifestation 
of  His  glorious  love  for  us.  For  thus,  (a)  He,  from 
the  first,  submitted  to  the  ceremonial  law  for  men,  with 
perfect  obedience,  according  to  His  vocation  as  the 
Perfect  Man;  (b)  He  began  to  undergo  the  whole 
category  of  human  sufferings,  and  (c)  He  endured 
the  initial  outpouring  of  His  Precious  Blood  for  men. 
We  cannot  know  how  many  blessings  were  merited 
for  the  world  by  our  Lord's  circumcision ! 

Our  religion  may  easily  become  as  empty  as  the  six 
water-pots.  Let  us  learn  a  lesson  from  the  Jews  about 
this.  For  God  had  made  rich  provision  for  teaching 
them  the  one  great  lesson  of  love  for  Him.  Not  only 
had  He  given  them  His  special  Presence  and  blessing 
in  His  temple,  but  there  were  varius  devices  indicated 
in  their  Scriptures  which  were  meant  to  inspire  devo- 
tion at  every  turn  in  their  daily  life  (Deut.  vi:4-io; 


SAINT  JOHN  57 


xi :  18-21 ;  Num.  xv:  37-41).  There  were  the  Mezuza 
over  the  door,  and  the  Tefillin,  bound  on  brow  and 
arm  at  prayer.  Both  were  small  metal  cases  contain- 
ing the  following  precept  of  Jehovah:  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all 
thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  might ;  and  these  words  shall 
be  in  thy  heart."  Furthermore,  they  were  directed  to 
wear  a  fringe  on  their  shawls,  called  the  Zizith,  and  by 
that  token  also  to  remember  the  supreme  command- 
ment of  their  God  to  love  Him.  But  in  spite  of  all 
that  He  could  do  to  kindle  devotion  in  them,  He  was 
at  length  compelled  to  confess  that  He  had  failed.  "I 
know  you,"  said  Jesus  to  the  Jews,  "That  ye  have  not 
the  love  of  God  in  you"  (iv:42). 

Shall  we  not  permit  our  Lord  to  fill  our  external 
observances  with  that  heavenly  wine  which  refreshes 
Him  to  run  His  course  rejoicing,  and  makes  glad  the 
hearts  of  all  men  about  us?  (Ps.  xix:5;  civ:  15). 
Conventional  Christianity  is  as  useless  to  satisfy  the 
thirst,  either  of  Christ  or  of  the  guests  at  His  banquet 
of  love,  as  were  the  water-jars  in  their  emptiness. 
May  He  so  fill  us  with  true  religion  that  we  shall, 
quite  without  knowing  it,  manifest  the  glory  of  Jesus 
and  add  at  least  a  little  to  the  happiness  of  men. 

iFor  tt)e  Seben  Dap0  iFoIIotofng*  Read  St.  John  ii :  12-25 

W^t  j^ctate  9Da?  of  Ibt  ^ttpgtn 

3[f0uji*  Kfluctancc  to  be  EfffcteH 

From  Cana  our  Lord  returned  to  Nazareth.  He 
must  have  expected  that  after  His  thirty  years  of  resi- 
dence there,  revealing  in  every  word  and  act  the 
Divine  loveliness  of  His  Personality,  the  Nazarenes, 


58  SAINT  JOHN 


at  least,  would  be  ready  to  receive  Him  with  open 
arms  as  their  Messiah.  Biut  St.  John  shows  us  His 
enforced  removal  from  His  old  home,  because  of  the 
disastrous  outcome  of  His  visit  there.  We  find  Him 
journeying  down  to  Capernaum  with  His  entire  family 
and  His  disciples,  to  find  a  new  home.  St.  Luke  and 
St.  Mark  both  strive  to  express  the  bitterness  of  His 
disappointment,  and  how  reluctant  He  was  to  leave 
Nazareth.  He  knew  the  sorrow  and  dereliction 
of  the  prophet's  lot  in  suffering  complete  dishonor 
and  rejection  'in  His  own  country,  and  among  His 
own  kin,  and  in  His  own  house"  (St.  Mark  vi. :  4;  cp. 
St.  John  iv :  44).  So  great  indeed  was  His  longing  to 
help  His  people  at  Nazareth,  even  after  they  had  re- 
warded Him  for  His  first  manifestation  of  Himself  as 
their  Saviour  by  trying  to  murder  Him  (St.  Luke  iv : 
29),  that  He  went  back  to  them  again,  later,  hoping 
that  He  might  find  them  willing  to  accept  Him.  But 
again,  it  was  in  vain  (St.  Matt,  xiii :  54  ff.). 

In  Capernaum,  He  met  another  rejection.  For, 
while  here  there  was  no  violence  directed  against  His 
life,  they  excluded  Him  from  their  hearts  by  indiffer- 
ence and  unbelief.  Our  Lord  cries  out  against  the 
stubborn  hardness  of  their  infidelity,  and  sorrowfully 
prophesies  that  Capernaum  shall  be  cast  down  to  Hell, 
since  it  is  more  wicked  in  its  refusal  to  receive  Him 
than  even  Sodom  would  have  been  (St.  Matt,  xi: 
23  f.).  This  was  one  of  the  cities  wherein  He  wrought 
"most  of  His  mighty  works,"  in  order  to  win  the  faith 
and  repentance  of  its  people  (St.  Matt.  xi:2o),  and 
the  others  thus  favored  by  miracles  were  in  its  imme- 
diate neighborhood.  St.  John  describes  Jesus'  first 
sojourn  as  continuing  ''not  many  days."  Tlie  came 
words  would  be  equally  descriptive  of  His  determined 


SAINT  JOHN  59 


subsequent  efforts  to  evangelize  the  Capernaites,  and 
His  continual  failure. 

But  it  was  in  Jerusalem  that  this  ''Scorn  of  men  and 
Outcast  of  the  people"  found  the  most  relentless  re- 
fusal to  accept  Him  as  Messiah,  and  therefore  suffered 
the  most  heart-breaking  defeat  of  His  hopes.  For  this 
was  His  ancient  capital,  Holy  Zion,  which  He  loved 
above  all  the  cities  of  the  world,  and  the  site  of  that 
sanctuary  of  God's  presence  from  which  Salvation 
should  flow  out  to  all  mankind  (iv:22).  No  wonder, 
then,  that  He  was  utterly  tmwilling  to  be  cast  off. 
When  He  had  left  the  Temple,  lest  He  should  be 
attacked  and  slain  before  His  time,  He  still  retreated 
no  farther  than  into  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  Again 
He  was  compelled  to  retire  before  the  hatred  of  His 
enemies,  and  this  time  into  the  countryside  without  the 
city  walls.  There  He  continued  teaching  and  display- 
ing the  signs  of  His  love  and  power,  until  once  more 
the  animosity  of  the  Pharisees  forced  Him  to  return 
into  Galilee  (ii:23;  iii:22;  iv:  1-3).  Does  it  not 
arouse  our  indignation  and  kindle  our  zeal  for  Jesus 
when  we  think  of  the  repeated  rejections  which  He 
suffered  from  men,  when  He  came  to  them  desiring 
naught  but  to  be  admitted  into  their  lives  with  all  the 
blessings  of  His  Kingdom?  But  even  more  in 
America  today  He  is  excluded  from  our  households, 
our  individual  lives  and  even  our  Churches.  Let  us 
fling  wide  the  doors  and  receive  Him ! 

W^t  iDctabe  a)a?  of  &t  Sol^n  tlie  (Cbang:eIi0t 

^|)e  Qlecrption  xif  Cf^riet 

If  it  be  true,  that  we  ought  to  receive  Christ  for  His 
sake,  and  in  reparation  to  Him  for  the  rebuffs  He  en- 


60  SAINT  JOHN 


dures  in  the  godless  world,  it  is  certainly  far  more  true 
that  our  own  souls  must  have  their  Saviour  for  their 
very  Center.  Capernaum  was  "exalted  unto  Heaven" 
by  His  presence  within  its  walls,  although  it  was  so 
hostile  to  Him  that  it  was  to  be  cast  down  to  Hell  at 
the  Judgment  (St.  Matt.  xi:23f.).  How  blessed, 
then,  is  the  soul  of  a  loving  Christian,  into  which 
Christ  enters  with  infinite  love  and  mercy,  that  He 
may  exalt  it  to  Heaven  forever!  For  it  has  the  gift 
of  everlasting  life,  through  the  continual  presence 
within  it  of  its  Lord  God  and  of  His  sanctifying  grace 
(i  St.  John  v:  12). 

When  St.  John  speaks  of  the  "Jews'  Passover,"  he 
implies  that  there  is  also  a  Christian  Passover.  And, 
indeed,  our  Saviour  Himself  referred  to  Holy  Com- 
munion in  a  way  to  suggest  that  it  is  the  Church's 
Pasch.  For  He  said:  "With  desire  I  have  desired  to 
eat  this  Passover  with  you  before  I  suffer."  Yet,  im- 
mediately. He  went  on  to  show  by  word  and  act  that 
He  referred  to  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  and  would  not 
receive  either  the  bread  or  the  wine  of  the  Jewish 
rite  (St.  Luke  xxii:  16-20).  We  may,  then,  rightly 
claim  the  dear  Christ  as  "our  Passover,  sacrificed  for 
us."  The  blood  of  this  Lamb  of  God  is  marked  upon 
the  doors  of  our  senses,  that  the  Angel  of  Death  may 
pass  us  by.  And  in  each  Communion,  we  consume 
Him  wholly  (Ex.  xii:3-8). 

When  St.  John  saw  our  Lord  cleansing  the  Temple, 
and  the  mortal  hatred  which  He  thus  occasioned  in  the 
Jews,  he  remembered  the  prophecy  about  the  Messiah : 
"The  zeal  of  thine  house  will  eat  Me  up."  Our  Lord's 
intense  earnestness  showed  that  He  was  consumed 
with  desire  for  the  purity  of  divine  worship.  Then 
with  what  love,  with  what  striving  after  perfection, 


SAINT  JOHN  61 


ought  we  to  approach  the  Holy  of  Holies.  There  is 
indeed  the  Mercy  Seat  and  the  blessed  sacramental 
Presence  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  Who  eagerly  seeks  the 
opportunity  of  lifting  our  souls  to  eternal  heights. 

W^t  flDctabe  SDap  ot  i\t  ^ol?  Jnnocentiei 

Wc)t  spirit  of  Di0ct))lf0|)tp 

It  seems  that  St.  John  made  his  final  decision  to 
accept  Christ  as  his  Master  at  Cana.  This  is  one  reason 
for  his  not  recording  the  call  of  the  four  fishermen, 
SS.  Peter,  Andrew,  James  and  John,  at  the  lakeside 
(St.  Matt,  iv:  i8  fif. ;  St.  Mark  i:  i6ff.;  St.  Luke  v: 
i-ii).  Probably,  while  our  Lord  was  at  Nazareth, 
He  sent  the  Apostles  to  their  homes  for  a  period  of 
mature  reflection  before  they  made  their  final  response. 
The  summons,  then,  came  after  Christ's  removal  to 
Capernaum,  and  before  the  first  purifying  of  the  Tem- 
ple. Little  stress  is  laid  by  the  first  three  Gospels  on 
this  call  of  the  Beloved  Disciple.  He  evidently  obeyed 
immediately,  as  if  he  had  but  awaited  a  signal.  There 
is  a  second  reason,  however,  for  the  entire  silence  of 
Evangelist  wished  to  avoid  describing  the  occasion 
the  Fourth  Gospel  as  to  this  incident.  Our  humble 
upon  which  he  left  all  for  Christ's  sake. 

He  was,  indeed,  at  the  very  height  of  his  prosperity, 
that  day.  St.  Mark  indicates  that  his  boat  was  an 
unusually  large  one,  for  he  tells  us  that  the  father, 
Zebedee,  with  his  sons  and  servants,  was  mending  the 
fish-nets,  not  on  the  shore,  as  was  the  custom  with  the 
small  owners,  but  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel.  It  had, 
moreover,  a  hired  crew  besides  the  owners.  St.  Luke 
contributes  the  information  that  the  haul  of  fish  was 


62  SAINT  JOHN 


of  unparalleled  greatness.  Yet,  St.  John  without  a 
thought  for  the  extraordinary  catch  or  for  the  afflu- 
ence he  was  leaving,  joyfully  accepted  poverty  and 
suffering  at  Jesus'  side.  Nor  did  he  fall  into  that  snare 
of  complacent  self-satisfaction  which  always  besets  us 
when  we  sacrifice  anything  for  our  Lord.  The  spirit 
of  these  four  Apostles  was  rather  one  of  fear,  because 
they  realized  that  they  were  unworthy  of  fellowship 
with  Christ.  Thus  we  find  Him,  for  the  first  time  on 
this  occasion,  commanding  them  *'Fear  not."  It  was 
to  become  the  commonest  of  all  His  precepts,  in  His 
spiritual  direction  of  them. 

St.  Peter,  many  years  afterward,  shows  us  that  only 
reliance  upon  Divine  help  gave  them  confidence  to  ac- 
cept our  Lord's  invitation.  For  thus  he  urges  us  to 
trust  as  he  had  done:  'The  God  of  all  grace,  Who 
hath  called  us  unto  His  eternal  glory  by  Christ  Jesus 
.  .  .  shall  Himself  perfect  you,"  or  literally,  ''mend 
your  nets"  (i  St.  Pet.  v:  lo).  The  broken  fish-nets 
upon  the  deck  of  Zebedee's  vessel,  and  those  lying  upon 
the  shore  rent  by  the  miraculous  catch,  were  symbolic 
to  them  of  their  own  imperfect  souls.  But  with  them 
was  a  Divine  Net-mender,  the  God  of  grace,  who 
would,  with  infinite  patience  and  skill,  knit  the  torn 
spiritual  web. 

W^t  Comins  of  X%t  I^urifirr 

Our  gentle  Saviour  came  to  His  Father's  House,  at 
just  the  time  and  in  exactly  the  way  which  would 
make  His  purifying  discipline  least  trying  to  the  Jews. 
That  very  year,  the  sanctuary  had  been  completed, 


SAINT  JOHN  63 


after  forty-six  years'  expenditure  of  labor  and  treas- 
ure. Surely,  they  would  be  expecting  the  fulfillment 
of  Malachi's  prophecy  (iii:  1-3).  Surely  the  Angel  of 
the  Covenant,  now  for  many  centuries  expected,  would 
come  at  last  to  purify  for  Himself  this  magnificent 
House  which  His  people  had  built  to  His  glory.  For 
how  could  God  consummate  the  work  of  His  servants 
with  a  greater  outpouring  of  His  blessing  and  His 
glory,  than  by  Himself  coming  to  dwell  in  it? 

Probably,  the  very  hour  chosen  by  Christ  for  His 
visitation  was  one  in  which  the  hearts  of  His  people 
should  have  been  full  of  the  desire  to  be  clean,  for  it 
was  the  time  when  all  leaven  was  scrupulously  cleansed 
away  from  every  house  in  Jerusalem.  The  Jews  would 
almost  inevitably  reason  that  if  the  symbol  of  sin  must 
be  put  away  from  their  dwellings  before  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  ancient  Passover,  surely  the  House  of  God 
ought  to  be  cleansed  from  profanation,  avarice  and 
hypocrisy,  now,  when  God  had  actually  come  to  be 
with  His  people. 

But  not  only  was  our  Lord's  chosen  time  of  visiting 
the  Temple  that  which  would  make  the  cleansing 
easiest  to  bear,  but  His  words  and  acts  were  marvel- 
ously  gentle  and  loving.  His  scourge  was  made  only 
of  rushes,  probably  taken  from  the  pavement  of  the 
court  and  twisted  together.  Moreover,  He  seems  not 
to  have  struck  the  men  even  with  this  fragile  whip,  but 
only  the  cattle,  for  the  exact  meaning  of  the  original 
is :  "He  drove  them  all,  both  the  sheep  and  the  oxen, 
out  of  the  Temple."  And  He  could  hardly  have  used 
milder  words  of  rebuke.  The  money  changers  were 
charging  an  exorbitant  per  cent  for  exchanging  the 
foreign  money,  brought  by  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion, 
into  the   shekel  of  the   Sanctuary.    The  vendors  of 


64  SAINT  JOHN 


doves  represented  a  kind  of  trust  which  had  monopo- 
lized these  birds  and  was  charging  the  very  poor 
double  for  them.  Hardly  any  evil-doing  would  have 
aroused  our  Lord  more  than  the  iniquity  of  these  men, 
yet  He  says  no  more  than  that  they  have  turned  His 
Father's  House  into  a  market-place.  Is  it  not  a  won- 
derful manifestation  of  Jesus'  tender  mercy,  that  He 
even  condescended  to  be  tactful  and  gentle  with  His 
miserable,  sinful  creatures? 

W^t  €cntUef  in  Jcfun '  i^rart 

Why  did  our  Lord  come  to  cleanse  His  Temple  with 
a  scourge  in  His  hand,  if  His  intention  was  to  win  His 
people  by  gentleness?  It  was  because  the  rabbinic 
writings  prophesied  that  Messiah  would  appear  with  a 
scourge  for  the  punishment  of  evildoers.  In  His  great 
love  for  the  Jews,  He  willed  to  adopt  even  this,  their 
self-chosen  sign  of  Messianic  authority.  But  there  was 
one  way  in  which  He  diverged  from  the  fulfillment  of 
their  prophecy,  if  we  take  this  from  their  viewpoint. 
They  assumed  that  the  scourge  would  be  for  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  naught  but  rewards,  or  rather  payment  due, 
for  themselves.  Their  resentment  was  aroused  by  the 
fact  that  He  drove  their  cattle,  cheats  and  extortioners, 
out  of  the  temple  court.  They  had  by  no  means  real- 
ized the  meaning  of  that  plain  prophecy  that  judg- 
ment would  begin  at  the  House  of  God  (Mai.  iii :  1-4; 
I  St.  Pet.  iv:  17).  As  for  the  Gentiles,  His  Justice  as 
well  as  His  Mercy  required  that  they  should  be  ''beaten 
with  few  stripes,  for  they  knew  not"  (St.  Luke  xii: 

48). 


SAINT  JOHN  65 


In  His  Heart  there  was,  indeed,  a  plan  of  perfect 
wisdom  and  love,  for  including  the  heathen  among  His 
elect,  although  He  would  not  increase  the  hostility  of 
the  Jews  by  speaking  of  it  then.  But  at  the  second 
cleansing  of  the  temple,  when  the  time  of  the  Gentiles 
was  at  hand.  He  felt  that  charity  no  longer  forbade 
Him  to  reveal  His  purpose  for  them.  "My  house,"  he 
proclaimed,  "shall  be  called  the  house  of  prayer/<?r  all 
the  nations''  (St.  Mark  xi:  17).  We  in  our  poor,  sav- 
age Scythian  ancestors,  were  then,  and  had  been  from 
the  first,  at  the  very  center  of  His  design  to  redeem 
the  world. 

If  we  needed  a  proof  that  at  the  first  purifying  of 
His  House,  our  Saviour  had  before  Him  the  inclusion 
of  the  Gentiles  into  His  Church,  it  would  be  supplied 
by  His  answer  to  the  Jews'  demand  for  a  sign.  ''De- 
stroy the  Temple,"  he  said  to  them,  "and  in  three  days 
I  will  raise  it  up."  The  "sign"  He  would  give  would 
be  a  double  one.  They  would  "destroy"  the  "Temple" 
of  His  Body,  and  on  Easter  He  would  raise  It  up 
again.  And  on  that  same  Good  Friday,  at  the  very 
moment  of  His  death  upon  the  Cross,  the  magnificent 
sanctuary  would  be  symbolically  destroyed  by  the  rend- 
ing of  the  great  blue  veil  before  the  Holy  of  Holies. 
In  the  Divine  plan,  moreover,  the  religion  of  the  Old 
Covenant  would  go  down  to  the  grave  with  the  temple 
in  which  it  centered,  to  be  raised  again  in  Christ  on  the 
third  day  as  the  Catholic  Church.  May  the  dear 
Saviour  of  the  world  speedily  complete  His  plan  for 
our  nation  by  incorporating  the  fifty  million  American 
heathen  into  His  Mystical  Body! 


66  SAINT  JOHN 


S|)c  ©enaltp  of  ffl)nce  Kejcctinc  C|)ri0t 

There  is  a  great  warning  for  us  in  the  deterioration 
of  the  Jews  after  they  rejected  our  Saviour  at  the  first 
purification  of  the  temple.  For  there  is  a  marked  con- 
trast between  His  gentle  words  at  this  time,  and  the 
awful  severity  of  His  condemnation  at  the  second 
cleansing  (St.  Mark  xi:  i5fiF.).  Now,  He  speaks  of 
the  sanctuary  as  His  Father's  House,  but  then  He  must 
pronounce  that  most  fearful  sentence  of  final  derelic- 
tion: ''Your  House  is  left  unto  you  desolate"  (St. 
Matt,  xxiii:  38).  So  the  temple  of  a  soul  from  which 
He  has  departed,  because  it  has  cast  Him  out  by  sin, 
passes  desolate  from  His  Father's  blessed  ownership 
into  that  of  the  miserable  self. 

God's  ancient  House  had  been  converted  into  a 
"house  of  merchandise"  when  our  Lord  first  came  to 
it.  It  had  become  "a  den  of  robbers"  at  His  second  vis- 
itation. So,  it  is  also  with  one  who  is  rebuked  by  Jesus 
for  deserting  the  attitude  of  prayer  and  using  his  God- 
given  powers  for  worldly  and  selfish  ends.  If  he  even 
once  disregards  the  rebuke  he  may  go  on  from  bad  to 
worse,  until  he  becomes  hardened  and  bold  in  robbing 
God. 

At  the  first  cleansing  the  dear  Christ  came  as  a  Son 
into  His  Father's  House,  while  at  the  last,  He  had  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  the  desolate  fane  of  their  self- 
love.  We  know  that  it  cost  Him  a  flood  of  bitter  tears 
to  condemn  it,  yet  Divine  Truth  and  Justice  compelled 
Him.  May  sweet  Jesus  rebuke  and  chasten  us  now  in 
love,  that  we  may  ever  know  Him  as  Saviour,  never  as 
Judge! 


SAINT  JOHN  67 


W^Xt^  9Da^  in  tge  iDctabr  ot  C^pipiian? 

3fc)5U0  Stribinc  to  HDbtain  acwptance 

Our  Saviour  was  almost  immediately  driven  out  of 
the  temple,  and  obliged  to  find  His  opportunity  of 
teaching  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  But  even  so  He 
eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  which  was  afforded  Him 
there  by  the  Festival.  St.  John,  in  three  rapid  phrases, 
sums  up  the  reason  for  Christ's  hope  that  the  people 
would  be,  at  this  time,  particularly  receptive:  (a)  His 
appeal  was  being  made  "at  Jerusalem,"  the  city  God 
had  especially  chosen,  (b)  The  occasion  was  the  an- 
niversary of  the  Passover,  Jehovah's  great  deliverance 
of  His  people  from  slavery,  (c)  It  was  "during  the 
feast,"  when  all  hearts  were  full  of  religious  fervor.    "* 

Jesus'  labor  during  these  days  is  touchingly  indi- 
cated by  the  statement  that  He  wrought  many  "signs" 
to  gain  the  faith  of  the  people.  For  there  is  abundant 
evidence  in  the  Gospels  that  working  miracles  weak- 
ened our  Lord  and  made  Him  suffer.  Thus  we  read 
that  on  one  such  occasion  He  sighed  as  if  wearied 
(St.  Mark  vii:  34),  and  the  Beloved  Physician  records 
that,  after  the  healing  of  the  woman  with  an  issue, 
He  said,  'T  perceive  that  virtue  is  gone  out  of  Me" 
(St.  Luke  viii:46).  St.  Matthew,  indeed,  implies  that 
in  some  way  our  Lord  assumed  the  illnesses  which  He 
cured,  so  that  thus  He  "took  our  infirmities  and  bare 
our  sicknesses"  (viii :  16  f.).  We  should  think  of  Him, 
therefore,  during  this  week  of  street-preaching,  as 
spending  Himself  to  the  uttermost  during  the  day,  and 
then  at  night,  if  His  exhausted  frame  could  endure  it, 
passing  long  hours  of  intercession  beneath  the  olive 
trees  of  Gethsemane — all  to  gain  the  faith  and  love  of 
miserable,  fallen  creatures. 


68  SAINT  JOHN 


Yet,  with  all  He  could  do,  He  obtained  but  partial 
success.  "Many,"  we  read,  ''believed  in  His  name 
when  they  saw  the  miracles  which  He  did."  They 
accredited  Him  as  rightly  bearing  the  name  Jesus 
Christ,  "the  Anointed  Saviour,"  because  He  had  such 
power  over  the  forces  hostile  to  human  life.  But  what 
He  wanted  was  that  they  should  believe  "into  Him," 
with  such  complete  faith  that  they  would  surrender 
themselves  body  and  soul  to  Him.  Since  they  would 
not  trust  Him  in  this  way.  He  could  not  trust  Himself 
to  them.  Yet  He  made  out  of  their  very  hardness  an 
opportunity  to  manifest  afresh  the  glory  of  His  love 
for  men.  His  enforced  reserve  in  not  committing 
Himself  to  them  was  a  proof  to  them  that  His  knowl- 
edge of  human  hearts  was  immediate,  universal  and 
complete.  Of  Himself,  St.  John  assures  us,  He  knew 
the  innermost  character  and  thoughts  of  all  men.  By 
this  revelation  of  His  divine  wisdom.  He  would  lead 
them  on  to  believe  in  His  Godhead  and  to  receive  Him 
without  reserve.  How  can  we  ever  doubt  that  God  is 
love,  when  we  find  Him,  in  the  Gospel  and  in  the  spir- 
itual experience  of  each  one  of  us,  making  out  of  our 
very  failures  a  new  way  to  lead  us  upward ! 

ipor  t|)e  ipibe  Dapis  JFoIIotDinc*  Read  St.  John  iii  -.1-15 

ifourtS  2Dap  In  tf)e  flDrtabe  ^l  C^pipSanp 

W^z  3ncreliulit?  of  %>U  /I^tcoHemuis 

The  Sanhedrist,  who  came  to  our  Lord  under  cover 
of  night,  is  a  typical  instance  of  the  kind  of  disciples 
who  "believed  in  Christ's  Name."  He  accepted  our 
Lord  as  a  Rabbi,  who  had  been  taught,  not  in  the 
Schools  but  directly  by  God.    In  this  way  be  admitted 


SAINT  JOHN  69 


that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  but  in  a  sense  which  was  so 
incomplete  as  to  permit  of  his  continuing  in  harmony 
with  false  Jewish,  rabbinical  conceptions  of  Messiah. 
His  Pharisaical  prejudices,  a  certain  conservatism  nat- 
ural to  an  elderly  man,  and  a  very  real  timidity  about 
incurring  the  contempt  of  his  fellow-leaders  among  the 
Jews,  if  he  accepted  Christ  as  Divine,  all  united  to 
make  him  a  very  difficult  subject  even  for  our  Lord's 
infinite  wisdom  and  patience. 

With  that  infallible  intuition  of  others'  minds  of 
which  St.  John  has  spoken  (ii:  24  f.),  our  Lord  seems 
to  have  at  once  recognized  a  longing  of  the  old  man 
for  renewed  youth.  He  immediately  took  advantage 
of  this,  in  order  to  lead  Nicodemus  on,  from  what  he 
already  believed,  to  new  truth.  Accordingly,  there- 
fore. He  said,  with  the  extraordinary  solemnity  which 
His  repeated  'Verily"  betokens,  ''Except  a  man  be 
born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God." 

The  reply  of  the  Pharisee  indicates  that  Christ  had 
suggested  to  him  just  such  a  rebirth  as  he  had  often 
craved,  but  as  it  seemed  to  him  foolishly.  He  under- 
stood that  the  Master's  reference  was  to  .spiritual 
regeneration,  and  this  Nicodemus  had  desired  as  ear- 
nestly as  vainly.  A  man  is  the  sum  of  all  his  past 
choices  and  experiences ;  in  him  is  the  accumulation  of 
the  habits,  begun  in  boyhood,  deepened  in  youth,  and 
made  seemingly  ineradicable  during  maturity.  How 
can  he  do  away  with  this  result  of  the  years,  and  begin 
afresh?  Nicodemus  probably  refers  to  himself  when 
he  speaks  of  "a  man  when  he  is  old."  If  his  physical 
self  cannot  reissue  from  his  mother,  how  can  his  moral 
self  reissue  from  the  womb  of  time?  His  incredulity 
is,  therefore,  of  a  very  modern  kind.  Is  there  any 
Power,  men  ask,  which  can  give  me  back  again  the 


70  SAINT  JOHN 


purity  of  childhood,  or  the  devotion  I  knew  at  my 
First  Communion?  And  the  answer  is  the  same  down 
the  ages,  as  that  which  the  Incarnate  Word  gave  to 
Nicodemus.  Through  Christ,  and  the  Sacraments  of 
His  Church,  lies  that  ''road  to  yesterday." 


3fe)5U3  JOIeana  for  jpait^  'v\  (^w  Spirit 

There  are  two  translations  of  those  words  of  our 
Lord  which  our  Bible  renders:  "the  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth." 
The  Greek  means  also :  ''the  Spirit  breatheth  where  It 
listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  Voice  thereof,  but  know- 
est  not  whence  It  cometh  and  whither  It  goeth"  (iii:  8, 
R.  V.  Marg.).  In  fact,  Jesus  intended  this  saying  to 
have  a  double  meaning,  in  order  to  present  His  teach- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  simplest  and  most  at- 
tractive manner.  As  the  invisible  wind  moves  through 
the  world  where  it  will,  so  the  Blessed  Spirit  breathes 
upon  the  water  of  Holy  Baptism,  or  the  bread  and 
wine  of  Holy  Communion,  bestowing  upon  them  what 
virtue  He  wishes.  Thus  our  faith  will  not  be  hindered 
by  the  paltry  matter  of  the  sacraments.  We  must  not 
regard  the  poor,  material  elements,  but  bethink  our- 
selves of  God  Who  breathes  upon  them.  Nor  is  it 
what  we  do  in  preparation  for  Holy  Confirmation 
which  is  of  supreme  importance.  Let  us  but  open  our 
souls.  The  Holy  Ghost  will  breathe  His  gifts  into 
them,  if  He  wills,  and  His  Will  is  infinite  love. 

But,  while  the  Comforter  is  invisible,  we  can  hear 
His  Voice.    As  St.  Augustine  says :    "No  one  seeth  the 


SAINT  JOHN  71 


Spirit,  and  how  do  we  hear  His  Voice?  The  Psalm 
sounds;  it  is  the  Voice  of  the  Spirit.  The  Gospel 
sounds ;  it  is  the  Voice  of  the  Spirit.  The  Divine  Word 
sounds;  it  is  the  Voice  of  the  Spirit."  Even  Nicode- 
mus  should  have  heard  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking 
through  his  Old  Testament  Scriptures  (e.g.  Ezek. 
xxxii:i-io;  Zech.  xiiiri).  We  Christians,  perfectly 
instructed  by  our  Lord,  must  recognize  His  Spirit  in 
the  Divine  Office  of  the  Church,  in  our  meditation,  in 
sermons  and  spiritual  books,  and  in  the  hearts  and 
lives  of  His  holy  servants  around  us. 

Another  great  advantage  we  have,  over  the  "master 
in  Israel."  For  he  knew  not  "whence  the  Blessed 
Spirit  Cometh  nor  whither  He  goeth,"  but  we  know 
that  He  comes  to  us  from  Jesus'  Heart,  and  returns 
thither  bearing  our  souls,  if  we  but  let  Him. 

^(xtfi  2Da?  iw,  t6e  flDctabe  of  Cpip^anp 

Souljs  Born  of  t^e  Spirit 

Like  the  wind,  the  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  the 
soul  which  has  been  born  of  Him  at  the  font.  For,  as 
"the  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  with  absolute  free- 
dom from  all  control  except  that  of  God,  so  is  the  child 
of  the  Blessed  Spirit  free.  (Cp.  2  Cor.  iii :  17.)  But 
freedom,  whether  of  the  wind  or  of  the  Christian, 
springs  from  obedience  to  Divine  law.  The  precise 
direction,  volume  and  velocity  of  the  air  currents  are 
absolutely  determined  by  the  rotation  of  the  earth  and 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  But,  because  they  per- 
fectly obey  the  law  of  their  being,  they  blow  where 
they  "list."  And  in  the  spiritual  world  the  angels  and 
the  blessed  saints  enjoy  the  "glorious  liberty  of  the 


72  SAINT  JOHN 


children  of  God"  perfectly,  because  they  are  perfectly 
conformed  to  the  will  of  their  Father. 

Yet  there  are  obstructions  to  the  free  course  of  the 
wind.  If  there  were  not,  we  could  not  hear  "the  sound 
thereof."  In  our  spiritual  lives  too  there  are,  as  it 
were,  certain  trees  and  crags  and  eaves  of  houses  which 
seem  to  limit  our  freedom.  These  are  opposing  cir- 
cumstances, and  cross-grained  people,  and  our  own  hu- 
miliating failures.  Let  us,  like  the  wind,  turn  these 
obstacles  into  so  many  instruments  of  music.  Every 
one  of  them  will,  if  we  obey  the  law  of  our  spiritual 
being,  elicit  from  us  the  "Voice"  of  the  Spirit  of  Love. 

Our  birth  of  water  upon  which  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
brooding  (Gen.  i:  2,  R.  V.  Marg.)  was  as  mysterious, 
our  Lord  declared,  as  the  source  of  the  wind.  Nor 
can  any  man  tell  whither  we  and  the  winds  are  hasten- 
ing. But  God  who  begot  us  will  surely  receive  us  at 
last,  and  be  our  Goal,  behind  the  veil  One  thing  only 
is  required  of  us.  We  must  permit  ourselves  to  be 
"borne  forward  unto  perfection"  by  the  inspirations  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  (Heb.  vi:  2,  literally  translated). 

^t\^txi\}^  2Dap  (n  i\t  flDctatie  ot  (KpipSanp 

Dibine  JFait|) 

Nicodemus  continued  to  be  mystified  by  the  teach- 
ing of  the  new  birth,  and  sought  some  explanation 
which  his  reason  could  fully  comprehend.  ''How  can 
these  things  be?"  he  asked.  But  it  is  of  the  very  na- 
ture of  a  mystery  that  we  cannot  understand  "how  it 
can  be."  Our  supernatural  religion,  moreover,  is  full 
of  mysteries,  culminating  in  the  supreme  mystery  of 
the  Blessed  Trinity.    If,  therefore,  our  Lord  could  not 


SAINT  JOHN  n 


persuade  His  vistor  to  take  His  Word  for  the  reality 
of  a  sacrament,  how  could  He  ever  lead  him  to  be- 
lieve in  the  Tripersonal  Unity  of  God?  ''If  I  have 
told  you  earthly  thing's,  and  ye  believe  not,"  he  said 
to  Nicodemus,  and  indeed  to  us  all,  "how  shall  ye  be- 
lieve, if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things?"  The  "earthly 
things''  here  are  the  Divine  transactions  in  the  sphere 
of  this  world,  particularly  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church,  represented  by  Holy  Baptism.  The  "heavenly 
things"  are  those  great  mysteries  of  God's  love,  like 
the  Beatific  Vision,  which  are  so  far  above  reason  that 
they  require  the  maximum  of  divine  faith. 

The  reality  of  the  sacraments  is  indeed  evidenced  to 
our  reason  by  souls  "twice  born"  through  frequenting 
them.  Already  the  Apostolic  band  had  seen  this  power 
of  Christ's  mysterious  hidden  grace  to  regenerate  souls. 
"We  speak  that  ive  do  know  and  testify  that  we  have 
seen,"  our  Lord  could  say,  including  with  His  own  the 
witness  of  His  disciples  to  the  efficacy  of  His  grace  in 
human  lives.  Sacraments,  to  our  Lord  and  the  Apos- 
tolic Church,  were  but  lh'.-  "first  piinciplcs"  of  the 
Christian  religion,  by  which  our  faith  is  trained  for 
far  more  transcendent  mysteries  (Heb.  vi:i,  A.  V. 
Marg.). 

Jesus'  great  lesson  to  Nicodemus,  therefore,  was 
this:  True  faith  lies  in  believing  all  His  teaching, 
about  "earthly"  and  "heavenly  things"  alike,  on  His 
Word,  Who  was  "in  Heaven,"  "in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,''  even  while  He  was  revealing  these  Divine 
truths  on  earth  (iii:  13;  i:  18).  For  he  could  not  be 
mistaken,  nor  deceive  us.  Faith  in  His  Word  is,  there- 
fore, more  certain  than  knowledge  of  scientific  propo- 
sitions which  are  accredited  to  reason,  for  these  some- 
times prove  to  be  erroneous.    The  basis  of  matter  a^^s 


74  SAINT  JOHN 


until  recently  thought  to  be  the  atom.  But  physicists 
are  now  convinced  that  it  is  unextended  energy,  and 
perhaps  this  view  will  give  way  to  the  conviction  that 
ether  is  the  elemental  substance.  But  the  verities  of 
the  Catholic  Faith  have  withstood  the  multiform  as- 
saults of  innumerable  enemies  through  nearly  nineteen 
centuries  and  remain  as  certain  and  as  final  as  at  the 
first,  because  they  are  based  upon  the  changeless  Truth 
of  God.  . 

^untiap  in  tjt  flDctabe  of  CEplpfianp 

iFaitf)  in  t|)e  Dibine  gin»bearer 

When  once  Jesus  had  impressed  upon  Nicodemus 
the  necessity  of  accepting  His  teaching  simply  on  the 
faith  of  His  infallible  Word,  He  immediately  proceed- 
ed to  instruct  him  about  the  ineffa.ble  mystery  of  the 
Atonement.  With  His  appealing  confidence  in  men 
rising  up  to  the  loftiest  achievements.  He  trusted  that 
the  timid,  old  man,  "stealing  to  Him  under  the  cloak 
of  night,"  would  believe  the  teaching  of  the  Cross. 
Nor  was  He  mistaken,  for  when  our  Saviour  had  been 
"lifted  up,"  Nicodemus  came,  no  longer  by  night,  but 
through  the  daylight,  to  take  his  place  with  the  disci- 
ples on  Calvary  (xix:  39). 

The  Brazen  Serpent  which  Jehovah  had  caused  to 
be  made  for  a  cure  of  the  fiery  serpents'  bites  in  the 
wilderness  was  designed  so  as  to  resemble  the  reptiles 
attacking  the  IsraeHtes  as  perfectly  as  possible  (Num. 
xxi :  8).  Yet  of  course  it  was  only  like  the  enemies  of 
God's  people  and  was  in  fact  the  remedy  for  the  dead- 
ly fever  they  were  causing  in  their  victims.  It  was  in 
this  way  that  the  symbol  lifted  up  upon  the  cruciform 
pole  vvas  a  type  of  our  Lord  on  the  Cross.    For  He 


SAINT  JOHN 


"was  made  in  the  likeness"  of  sinful  man ;  He  was 
"'made  to  be  sin,"  and  ''a  curse"  (Phil.  ii:7;  2  Cor. 
v:2i  ;  Gal.  iii :  13).  Yet  He  remained  always  the  im- 
maculate Son  of  God,  Whose  resemblance  to  the  evil 
things  which  attack  His  people,  w^as  only  in  order  that 
He  might  cure  their  fiery  bite. 

It  was  necessary  for  the  Israelites  but  to  look  upon 
the  Fiery  Serpent  lifted  up  before  their  eyes.  But 
they  could  not  do  this  without  seeing  the  representa- 
tion of  the  evil  monsters  they  had  brongiit  U]~!on  thcrn- 
selves  by  their  sin,  and  in  this  way  the  look  would  be  a 
confession  and  an  act  of  penitence.  There  were  some, 
indeed,  it  seems,  who  refused  to  ''behold  the  serpent 
of  brass."  We  Christians,  also,  must  haijitually  '*l:;e- 
hold  the  Lamb  of  God"  with  unquestioning  faith  in 
His  Atonement,  although  to  look  upon  Him  humbles 
our  pride  in  the  dust.  v 

Wc}Z  JFirot  %>\t  Dapa  after  tl)£  ©piptjanp  SDctabe* 
Read  St.  John  iii :  16-36 

^oti*0  Hobe  for  Soula 

It  is  wonderful  that  the  Evangelist  who  declares 
most  plainly  the  love  of  God  for  the  whole  world  is 
the  Apostle  who  was  most  profoundly  impressed  by 
the  wickedness  of  man.  Scholars  insist  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  genuine  text,  our  Lord  had  said  {v.  15)  : 
"The  Son  of  Man  must  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  may  have  eternal  life."  When  St. 
John  wrote,  however,  the  evil  of  the  world  around  him 
was  so  black  that  it  cast  a  somber  shadow  even  upon 
his  glorious  proclamation  of  the  Divine  charity  for  our 
race:    "God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His 


76  SAINT  JOHN 


Only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  He  has  in- 
serted in  our  Lord's  gracious  words  a  solemn  warning 
that  those  who  do  not  believe  in  Christ  perish.  It  is 
significant,  also,  that  it  is  he  who  records  our  Lord's 
saying,  "the  world  hateth  Me"  (vii:7).  But  for  all 
his  clear  vision  of  the  fearful  sin  in  the  world,  this 
great,  true  optimist  declares  that  both  the  Father  and 
the  Son  so  loved  our  whole  race  that  they  willed  to 
save  all  mankind,  even  by  the  Cross. 

Moreover,  he  tells  us  that  God  ''gave''  His  Son. 
This  is  quite  different  from  saying  that  the  Father 
sent  our  Lord.  For  when  God  gave  His  Only-begot- 
ten to  men.  He  bestowed  Him  upon  us,  to  be  our  very 
own.  And,  since  our  greatest  need  of  Christ  was  to- 
have  him  for  our  Sin-bearer,  the  Father's  gift  of  Him 
involved  His  intention  that  Jesus  should  be  our  Sacri- 
fice on  the  Atoning  Tree. 

St.  John  is  unique  in  calling  Christ  by  the  title 
*'Only-begotten."  He  does  this  for  a  double  purpose: 
(a)  He  would  teach  us  that  God  gave  His  own,  and 
His  only,  Son  to  us.  If  we  only  believe  "into  Him,"" 
we  shall  not  even  be  judged;  but  our  sole  hope  is  in 
Him  alone  (v.  i8).  (b)  He  has  represented  Chris- 
tians as  the  "begotten"  sons  of  God,  and  he  must  de- 
clare the  uniqueness  of  our  Lord's  Sonship  unmistak- 
ably. So  close  has  our  Father's  love  drawn  us  poor 
sinners  to  Himself  in  Christ,  that  we  needed  to  be 
cautioned  against  supposing  that  we  have  been  given 
a  share  in  the  very  Deity  of  God's  Only-begotten. 


SAINT  JOHN  77 


'atuf 0liap  jattec  tSe  iFit0t  Siunliap  rafter  Cpip^anp 

C|)e  ^l}ri0tian  ^antfeistinQ  C|)riiBt 

There  is  a  vivid  contrast  between  the  unconverted 
sinner  and  the  loyal  disciple  of  Christ,  in  the  attitude 
they  take  about  laying  their  deeds  before  our  Lord. 
The  former  "loves  darkness  because  his  deeds  are 
evil":  but  the  latter  "cometh  to  the  light  that  his  deeds 
may  be  made  manifest."  It  is  generally  a  perfect  proof 
that  what  we  are  doing  or  contemplating  is  righteous, 
if  we  can  lay  it  open  to  Jesus'  gaze  and  ask  His  bless- 
ing upon  it.  Our  saintly  Master,  however,  knew  hu- 
man hearts  too  well  to  say,  as  His  contrast  would 
naturally  lead  Him  to  say,  that  the  Christian  "loveth 
the  light."  We  come,  but  often  it  is  only  after  a 
sharp  struggle  and  perhaps  with  lagging  steps,  when 
we  know  that  the  light,  it  may  be  of  a  retreat  or  a  mis- 
sion, will  show  us  hard  things  to  do.  And  even  when 
we  have  triumphed  in  "doing  the  truth,"  the  light  will 
make  manifest  the  plain  fact  that  our  deeds  "are 
wrought,"  not  in  our  own  power,  but  "in  God."  Con- 
sequently, it  will  require  heroism,  now  and  then,  for  us 
poor  brethren  of  Christ  to  be  children  of  the  light. 

Later,  St.  John  records  a  saying  of  our  Lord  which 
directs  us  not  only  to  live  in  the  Light,  but  also  to  have 
the  Light  in  us :  "He  that  followeth  Me,"  was  His 
promise,  "shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the 
Light  of  Life"  (viii:  12).  Thus  we  are  to  possess  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  in  our  own  hearts.  For  we  are 
meant  to  be  the  "lighthouses  of  life,"  manifesting  the 
Light  of  the  World  through  our  personality.  Our  dear 
Saint  sums  up  Christian  conduct  in  his  practical  way, 
as  "doing  the  truth,"  meaning  that  "right  action  is 
true  thought  realized.    Every  fragment  of  right  done 


78  SAINT  JOHN 


is  so  much  truth  made  visible."  Let  us  strive  always 
to  reveal  that  radiant  Truth  which  dwells  in  our  hearts. 
The  great  dignity  of  Christians  through  their  shar- 
ing in  the  white  light  of  Christ,  appears  from  the 
august  title  given  them  by  St.  Paul  and  St.  John 
(Phil,  ii:  15,  R.  V.  Marg. ;  Rev.  xxi:  ii,R.  V.  Marg.). 
For,  whereas  the  holy  Baptist  was,  in  his  earthly  life, 
only  a  "lamp  kindled  and  shining,"  we  are  luminaries 
in  the  firmament  of  God.  Only  our  Lord,  the  Day- 
spring,  is  more  glorious  than  we  are  enabled  to  be 
through  His  indwelling,     . 

matter  (Epipl&attp 

©ractioinc  ©toil  anH  Doinc  \\)t  ^rut|> 

Who  are  the  most  practical  people  in  the  world? 
Are  they  the  Christians,  represented,  let  us  suppose, 
by  religious,  or  are  they,  perhaps,  successful  business 
men  of  the  kind  whose  highest  aspiration  is  to  see  their 
stocks  swiftly  rising?  St.  John  solved  this  question 
in  the  passage  we  have  been  considering.  Let  us  ex- 
amine his  answer  carefully. 

It  is  conveyed  in  his  contrast  between  those  who 
"practice  evil  deeds"  and  those  who  "do  the  truth." 
The  former  verb,  in  the  original,  has  the  idea  of  busy 
activity,  of  restless  energy;  the  latter  expresses  quiet 
accomplishment.  The  results  gained  by  the  one  are 
many  and  evil ;  while  the  other  performs  but  a  single 
life-work,  which,  however,  increases  the  total  of  Divine 
Truth,  in  the  world.  All  the  various  products  of  god- 
less striving  after  selfish  gain  will  perish ;  the  one  fruit 
(Gal.  v:22)  of  the  "children  of  light"  has  the  ever- 
lasting permanence  of  Him  Who  is  Truth. 


SAINT  JOHN  79 


St.  John's  principles  of  practical  business  are  most 
solemnly  confirmed  by  our  Lord  (v:29).  In  reveal- 
ing the  Final  Judgment,  He  said  that  "they  who  have 
done  good  shall  come  forth  from  their  graves  unto  the 
resurrection  of  life;  and  they  that  have  practiced  evil 
unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation."  Let  us,  then,  be 
true  capitalists,  and  give  our  labor  with  eager  avarice 
to  the  eternal  work  of  Truth,  which  is  wrought  in  God 
and  shall  remain.  , 

matter  (EpipSanp 

3[e)5U)5  ^a?  Wi\\\  2Dur  ipailure 

It  appears  that  in  the  beginning  of  our  Lord's  Min- 
istry, both  He  and  His  Forerunner  baptized  in  the 
same  locality.  Presently,  however,  it  began  to  be  said 
that  Jesus'  ministration  brought  greater  blessings  than 
John's,  whereupon  arose  the  ''question  about  purify- 
ing," that  is,  about  the  relative  value  of  the  two  bap- 
tisms. The  ardent  loyalty  of  the  Baptist's  disciples 
was  fired  to  jealous  anger  by  seeing  the  multitude 
leaving  their  master  and  going  to  Christ,  and  they 
came  to  St.  John  complaining.  Let  us  study  their  in- 
dictment of  our  Lord.  First  they  protest  that  He, 
Who  has  now  become  the  cause  of  their  master's  fail- 
ure, had  been  with  him  in  the  midst  of  his  success 
"beyond  Jordan."  Why  then  was  He  interfering  with 
the  ministry  which  was  evidently  so  efficient  and  so 
full  of  promise  for  the  conversion  of  God's  people? 
Ought  He  to  have  established  Himself  in  the  very 
same  neighborhood  with  His  successful  fellow-laborer, 
when  this  would  surely  lead  to  the  lessening  of  his  holy 
influence   for   righteousness   and  piety?   This   is  the 


80  SAINT  JOHN 


sort  of  doubts  which  are  always  likely  to  assail  us, 
also,  when  our  Lord  lets  us  fail,  ignominiously,  per- 
haps, just  when  we  were  in  the  midst  of  some  appar- 
ently successful  work  for  Him. 

In  the  second  place,  the  objectors  pointed  out  that 
Christ  was  the  very  One  to  Whom  their  master  had 
borne  witness  before  the  multitude,  which  as  St. 
Matthew  tells  us,  had  included  the  population  of 
"Jerusalem  and  all  Judea,  and  all  the  region  round 
about  Jordan"  (iii:5).  Why  then,  did  He  not  bear 
witness  to  His  Forerunner?  Often  this  question  also 
will  intrude  itself  upon  us  when,  either  in  our  own 
case,  or  in  that  of  some  other  servant  of  Jesus,  we 
see  faithful,  loyal,  humble  service  rewarded,  not  by 
success  and  honor,  but  by  failure  and  obscurity,  pos- 
sibly even  by  the  deprivation  of  the  very  power  of  con- 
tinuing the  work. 

The  last  charge  was  that  'all  men  were  coming  to 
Christ.'  But  in  this  lies  our  consolation  wrien  we  fail. 
For  we  may  be  sure,  always,  that,  in  the  perfect  Wis- 
dom of  our  Master,  even  our  failures  in  the  work  of 
our  vocation  will  somehow  help  in  bringing  the  world 
to  the  feet  of  Jesus.  His  one  desire  was  that  all  men 
should  come  to  Him,  and  by  whatever  agency  this  is 
accomplished,  even  if  it  be  through  the  defeat  of  all 
our  own  plans,  we  attain  thereby  a  share  in  God's  own 
perfect  success.  x 

%X,  3[o|;n  lB8ptt0t  astilline  to  ipail 

Jesus'  Herald  met  the  jealous  complaints  of  his  fol- 
lowers by  showing  them  three  reasons  for  his  being 
not  only  willing,  but  glad,  to  fail  when  it  was  his 


SAINT  JOHN  81 


Master's  wish.  First,  he  could  claim  no  authority,  or 
preferment,  except  that  which  had  been  given  him, 
and,  as  he  had  always  told  them,  his  was  not  the  voca- 
tion of  the  Christ.  Thus  he  gently  reminded  them  that 
he  had  always  taken  the  lowest  possible  place  in  Jesus' 
service.  The  rabbis  said :  "Every  office  which  a  serv- 
ant will  do  for  his  master,  a  scholar  should  perform 
for  his  teacher,  except  loosing  his  sandal-thong."  But 
St.  John  insisted  that  he  was  unworthy  even  to  do 
this  lowliest  servile  duty  for  the  Son  of  God.  If, 
therefore,  he  was  less  than  Jesus'  slave,  how  could  he 
object  to  his  Master  letting  him  fail  if  He  pleased  ? 

But,  poor  menial  as  he  was  in  himself,  he  had  been 
chosen  by  Christ  to  be  His  "friend"  at  His  nuptials 
with  His  people.  This  was  the  second  of  St.  John's 
reasons  for  his  willingness  to  see  his  success  dwindle 
to  nothing.  To  his  contemporaries,  his  metaphor 
meant  that  the  passing  of  his  disciples  to  Jesus  was 
the  marriage  for  which  he  had  sought  the  Bride  and 
made  the  preparations.  Now  that  he  could  hear  the 
Voice  of  the  Bridegroom,  leading  His  lowly  spouse 
Homeward,  his  joy  was  fulfilled. 

Finally,  he  contended,  it  must  be  that  Messiah 
should  increase,  while  he  decreased.  As  he  spoke,  he 
knew  that  imprisonment  and  martyrdom  were  hang- 
ing over  him,  for  before  this  he  had  denounced 
Herod's  wicked  marriage.  His  "decrease"  would  be 
through  long  languishing  in  Machaerus  and  perishing 
at  last  by  the  axe,  at  midnight.  Yet  his  joy  was  ful- 
filled, for  he  knew  that  Jesus  would  "increase"  through 
his  final  testimony  to  righteousness,  sealed  with  his 
blood.  Then  let  this  be  our  sole  concern,  as  it  was  his, 
that  the  King  have  His  blessed  will  with  His  slaves, 
who  are  yet  His  friends  (xv:  15),  for  He  will  surely 


82  SAINT  JOHN 


use  even  our  failures  and  disasters  in  His  Service,  to 
draw  souls  into  eternal  union  with  Himself. 


featutDap  atter  tfie  JFitioft  feuntiap 
^iiti  C^ptplban^ 

€|)r{0t  dupertot  to  SlII  C^uman  ^e8c|)er0 

The  Roman  Empire,  in  St.  John's  day,  was  full  of 
pagan  and  Jewish  teachers,  some  of  them  men  of  con- 
siderable ability.  No  doubt  there  was,  too,  the  same 
temptation  then  that  there  is  now,  to  prefer  some 
Oriental  "mystic,"  or  brilliant  ethical  culturist  to  Jesus 
Christ,  with  His  simple,  severe  Gk)spel.  Accordingly, 
the  aged  Apostle  seeks  to  guard  his  'little  children" 
against  allowing  any  such  human  master  to  seduce 
them  from  their  allegiance  to  Christ.  In  Origin,  doc- 
trine, and  Being,  he  tells  them,  our  Lord  is  as  far 
above  all  these  savants  as  Heaven  is  above  earth  {v. 
31).  To  people  in  the  plain  of  mere  natural  reason 
it  might  look  as  if  the  loftiest  heights  of  human  genius 
towered  up  into  the  very  Sun  of  Righteousness,  but  to 
him  on  the  mountain-top  it  was  evident  that  the  glo- 
rious Dayspring  was  at  an  immeasurable  distance 
above  even  the  most  gigantic  intellects  of  men. 

To  make  this  infinite  superiority  of  our  Lord  clearer 
to  ourselves,  let  us  compare  the  most  splendid  human 
genius  with  Him:  (a)  It  is  the  productions  of  the 
poet  or  painter  or  musician  which  we  prize  often  with- 
out caring  about  the  author;  it  is  the  Personality,  not 
the  masterpieces,  of  Christ,  for  which  ten  thousand 
times  ten  thousand  have  joyfully  given  life  itself,  (b) 
There  are  degrees  of  genius ;  we  cannot  imagine  there 
being  less  or  more  of  Jesus'  holiness  and  love — His 


SAINT  JOHN  83 


^'incommunicable  splendor."  (c)  The  great  ones  of 
earth  keep  us,  awe-struck,  at  a  distance ;  the  humblest 
"claim  Christ  for  themselves,  and  themselves  for 
Christ."  (d)  Genius  wins  our  admiration;  Jesus 
Christ  receives  our  worship. 

Even  the  inspired  prophets  were  far  inferior  to 
Him,  for  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost  in  "portions," 
so  that  they  were  infallible  only  in  their  contribution 
to  Holy  Scripture  (Num.  xi:  17;  2  Kings  iiiQ).  But 
to  Christ,  God  gave  "not  the  Spirit  by  measure."" 
Therefore,  even  apart  from  His  Godhead,  He  could 
speak  only  "the  Words  of  God."  Shall  we  then  be- 
lieve the  fabulous  wonders  of  false  cults,  and  reject 
the  mysteries  of  His  kingdom!  Shall  we  not  rather 
live  by  every  Word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  Mouth 
of  the  God-Man !  ^ 

^|)e  deconH  saUeeft  9fter  t|)e  ®pip|)anp  2Dctabe« 
Read  St.  John  iv  :  1-42 

%\t  Second  ^untia^  matter  (Cptpjgan^ 

(!r|)rtjBt'0  ®aceme00  to  6atn  ®berp  6ouI 

Our  Lord  was  worn  out  with  His  journey  from 
Judea,  and  many  days'  fasting,  and  He  lay  "thus," 
that  is  in  a  posture  of  utter  weariness,  on  the  curb  of 
the  well.  He  was  wearing  the  garments  of  a  Jerusa- 
lem Rabbi,  it  seems,  and  the  seamless  robe  which  was 
peculiar  to  high  priests.  Then  came  the  woman. 
There  was  every  reason  for  her  to  fear  and  distrust 
Him — a  Jew,  from  Jerusalem  of  all  places ;  a  member 
of  that  haughty  group  of  her  people's  enemies,  the 
Rabbis ;  and  above  all,  a  high  priest.  Yet,  in  the  eyes 
of  this  Rabbi  was  a  look  which  from  the  first  disposed 
her  to  confide  in  Him. 


84  SAINT  JOHN 


How  winningly  He  began  to  seek  her  soul !  The 
way  of  ways  to  disarm  her  was  to  ask  her  a  favor. 
Therefore,  He  Who  owned  the  whole  universe  ap- 
pealed to  His  creature  for  refreshment.  And  we  see 
how  successful  this  device  of  love  was  from  the  way 
in  which  He  speedily  overcame  her  Samaritan  sus- 
picion and  reserve. 

As  the  interview  proceeds,  there  are  many  instances 
of  the  great  care  He  took  to  gain  her.  The  most  nota- 
ble of  these  is  His  suggestion  to  her  of  the  Fatherhood 
of  God  {w.  21-23).  She  had  never  before  thought 
of  herself  as  the  child  of  God.  Is  it  not  wonderful  to 
behold  the  eternal  Creator  seeking  by  every  device  of 
love  to  gain  the  faith  of  His  own  creature?  And  yet 
every  one  of  us  is  being  besieged  day  after  day  by  this 
same  Infinite  Personal  Love. 

Q^ontiap  rafter  tibe  &econti  feundap 
^(trt  (Epiplianp 

3fe)5U)5*  iFaboritciB 

It  will  convince  us  more  perfectly  that  our  Lord  is 
ever  seeking  every  human  soul  with  all  His  boundless 
tenderness  and  wisdom,  if  we  study  the  degraded  state 
of  the  Samaritan  woman.  For  she,  like  all  her  people, 
was  a  schismatic  and  a  heretic,  who  rejected  all  of  the 
Old  Testament  except  the  Five  Books  of  Moses  {v. 
22).  Moreover,  she  was  an  inhabitant  of  "Sychar," 
which  was  a  nickname,  probably,  for  Shechem,  mean- 
ing "the  City  of  the  Liar,"  or  "of  the  Drunkard." 
Such  a  nickname  probably  indicates  that  the  village 
was  especially  degraded,  even  for  Samaria.  Finally, 
she   was  a  fallen   woman — from  the  demi-monde  of 


SAINT  JOHN  85 


Sychar  {yv.  i6f.) — who  had  come  out  to  this  more 
distant  and  deeper  well  instead  of  goings  to  the  more 
convenient  one  on  the  other  side  of  the  village,  in 
order  to  be  alone  and  escape  the  scorn  of  her  fellow- 
townspeople. 

The  charity  of  our  Lord  for  her  appears  the  more 
strikingly  as  we  observe  the  amazement  which  it  cre- 
ated in  the  Apostles  {v.  2y).  For  it  was  clean  con- 
trary to  the  custom  of  the  rabbis  that  He  should  speak 
with  a  woman  at  all.  They  said :  "A  man  should  not 
salute  a  woman  in  a  public  place,  not  even  if  she  is  his 
wife."  But  the  Twelve  found  their  Master  speaking 
with  this  woman,  and  that,  as  St.  John's  words  show,  in 
the  simplest  and  kindest  manner,  without  a  trace  of 
hauteur  or  condescension.  Moreover,  He  was  evi- 
dently instructing  her  in  religion,  whereas  the  current 
opinion  in  Jerusalem  was  that  "it  were  better  to  burn 
the  words  of  the  Law  than  to  deliver  them  to  a 
woman."  In  fact,  dear  Jesus  broke  through  many? 
contemporary  conventions,  in  order  to  reach  this  poor^ 
needy  soul. 

Famishing  and  starving  as  He  was.  He  forgot  botb'^ 
hunger  and  thirst  in  His  ardent  love  for  one  ignorant,- 
obscure,  sinner.  Well  has  it  been  said  that  in  His- 
Ministry  His  favorites  seem  always  to  have  been  "the^' 
last,  the  least,  the  lost."  May  He  find  us  all  among 
the  last  and  the  least,  and  united  with  Him  in  love  of 
the  lost!  1 

^ae0lrap  Mitt  tjie  feeconti  &unliap 
mxtt  (Epip|)an^ 

Cl)ni3t'0  ©r£ctou0  (gift  for  (Efaerp  ^oul 
To  the  astonishment  of  the  woman,  our  Lord,  al- 
most immediately  after  He  had  asked  her  for  water, 


86  SAINT  JOHN 


declared  that  in  reality  it  was  she  who  needed  to  ask  a 
draught  of  "living  water"  from  Him.  Their  positions 
were  in  reality  the  reverse  of  what  they  seemed.  It  is 
as  if  He  said  to  her:  *'It  is  Thou  who  art  weary  and 
foot-sore  and  parched,  close  to  the  well  and  yet  unable 
to  drink;  it  is  I  who  can  give  thee  the  Living  Water 
which  will  quench  thy  thirst  forever."  Now,  the  water 
was  sanctifying  grace,  the  principle  of  spiritual  life; 
the  Well  was  His  Own  Soul,  and  the  empty  vessel  was 
hers. 

In  order  to  make,  not  the  woman  only,  but  all  of 
us,  crave  this  **gift  of  God,"  our  Saviour  goes  on  to 
contrast  the  "living  water"  with  the  water  of  Jacob's 
well,  which  represents  all  temporal  blessings.  This 
satisfies,  without  satiety;  that  slaked  thirst  only  for  a 
moment.  This  is  a  well  freely  given,  and  leaping  up 
within  the  soul ;  that  was  inaccessible  without  great 
effort.  This  is  eternal  in  its  value ;  that  was  only  tran- 
sitory. 

To  accentuate  His  divine  largess  still  more,  Christ 
developed  His  image  of  the  spiritual  well  in  this  won- 
derful way:  It  is  as  a  spring  of  water,  always  a 
mysterious  thing  to  the  ancients,  which  therefore  indi- 
cates that  grace  is  from  the  mysterious  source  of  His 
Soul.  It  leaps  up  like  a  live  thing,  so  prodigally  abun- 
dant is  the  supply  from  Him.  The  overflow  is  not  lost, 
but,  we  may  suppose,  is  caught  in  the  vessels  of  other 
souls,  since  it  is  safe  for  eternity.  Let  us  then  eagerly 
echo  the  plea  of  the  Samaritan,  "Sir,  give  me  this 
water,  that  I  thirst  not"  forever. 


SAINT  JOHN  87 


•after  (Kpipjanp 

W^t  /i^ature  of  (Sou 

St.  John  tells  us,  in  his  Gospel  and  First  Epistle,  all 
we  know  about  the  essential  Being  of  God.  There  are 
three  magnificent  revelations  of  the  Divine  Nature  in 
these  sacred  writings,  and  they  are  our  Evangelist's 
priceless  gift  to  Christian  theology.  "God  is  a  spirit" 
is  the  first  of  these.  In  Him  is  no  material  thing  which 
can  modify  the  absolute  and  infinite  perfection  of  His 
Nature.  Our  Lord  declared  this  glorious  truth  to  us, 
in  order  to  draw  from  it  the  practical  inference  that 
we  must  worship  our  God  *'in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
The  Christian  must,  therefore,  approach  the  pure 
Spirit  of  God,  himself  purified  from  all  clinging  to 
material  things,  and  filled,  so  far  as  is  possible  for  him, 
with  true  worship  and  love. 

*'God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all,"  says 
the  epistle  again  (i  St.  John  i:5).  With  St.  John 
light  is  always  the  symbol  of  purity,  and  this  statement 
of  his  means  that  the  EKvine  Nature  is  ineffably  Holy. 
And  he  demands  of  us,  whose  glorious  vocation  it  is 
to  be  like  God,  that  we  shall  let  this  Divine  Light 
permeate  our  souls  through  and  through. 

"God  is  love"  is  the  beloved  disciple's  final  revela- 
tion of  the  Nature  of  the  Deity  (i  St.  John  iv:  8,  i6). 
If  God  were  only  Spirit,  His  aloofness  from  us,  poor 
earth-worms,  would  be  so  awful  that  we  would  hardly 
dare  go  nigh  Him;  and  if  He  were  only  Light,  His 
infinite  Holiness  would  be  unbearable  to  corrupt  crea- 
tures. But  since  He  is  Love,  He  cannot  be  contented 
to  remain  aloof,  but  must  come  to  us,  in  a  material 
Nature,  that  He  may  communicate  His  Holiness  to  us. 


88  SAINT  JOHN 


The  cause  of  the  Incarnation,  therefore,  was  the  In- 
finite tenderness  of  God.  It  is  His  supreme  appeal, 
not  only  for  worship  and  Holiness,  but  for  love  for 
Him,  like  His  for  us.  , 

^5ur0tiap  *after  t8e  feeconti  feuntia^ 
jitter  (Epipftanp 

i^ob)  WiZ  ^ap  (Sain  Deeper  BnotoleHee  of  6oD 

The  first  two  people  in  the  world  to  whom  our  Lord 
revealed  His  Messiahship,  apart  from  the  Apostolic 
Band,  were  both  outcasts,  the  one  from  society  in 
Sychar  and  the  other  from  the  Jewish  Religion  (ix: 
34-37).  The  great  primary  reason  for  this  was  of 
course  not  any  arbitrary  preference  on  our  Lord's 
part,  but  simply  the  fact  that  these  were  especially 
needy  souls,  who  realized  their  emptiness.  The  Phari- 
sees considered  that  they  required  no  further  revela- 
tion from  God.  They  wanted  only  a  Messiah  who 
would  vanquish  and  expel  the  hated  Romans.  But  the 
Samaritan  was  seeking  a  Messiah  who  would  tell  her 
the  truth,  and  accordingly  Jesus  filled  her  mind  and 
heart  with  the  Divine  Light  which  she  sought.  In  our 
meditation  and  our  spiritual  reading,  we  ought,  after 
her  example,  to  present  ourselves  before  our  Lord 
with  a  deep  sense  of  need. 

The  most  magnificent  conception  of  Christ,  ex- 
pressed by  any  group  of  people  in  the  Scriptures,  is 
that  of  the  Samaritans,  after  only  two  days  spent  in 
the  presence  of  our  Saviour.  "This  is  indeed  the 
Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,"  is  their  triumphant 
confession  of  faith.  Why  was  it  that  these  poor  igno- 
rant schismatics  so  quickly  gained  the  clear  conviction 
of  our  Lord's  world-wide  love  and  power,  when  the 


SAINT  JOHN  89 


rabbis  of  God's  Capitol  rejected  and  crucified  Him? 
It  was  because  the  Samaritans  knew,  by  personal  ex- 
perience, that  man  needs  a  Deliverer  from  sin,  not  a 
splendid  temporal  monarch.  Let  us  learn  from  them, 
that  by  humility  and  penitence  we  open  our  hearts  to 
know   Christ   better. 

These  Samaritans  provide,  moreover,  a  fine  example 
of  the  truth  that  it  was  the  simple  people  to  whom 
God's  Word  gave  light  and  understanding.  Now, 
"simplicity  is  not  a  negative  thing,  but  a  positive  and 
deliberate  loyalty  to  the  truth  by  which  one  lives." 
With  all  their  faults,  the  Sycharites  must  have  pre- 
served an  essential  fidelity  to  their  dim  vision  of  Divine 
Truth.  Let  us  but  live  by  the  glorious  revelation  God 
has  granted  us,  and  His  mind  will  surely  be  manifested 
to  us  more  and  more.  , 

jFribap  matter  i\t  &econti  ^unua^  ^afttt  (Epip^anp 

2lncon0ciou0  ^otoinQ  for  Ifrdus 

Our  Lord  revealed  to  the  Samaritan  woman  far 
more  Divine  Truth  than  He  had  made  known  to  the 
whole  multitude  of  people,  many  of  them  no  doubt 
instructed,  pious  Jews,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
One  partial  explanation  of  this  is  that  she  had  been  in 
a  measure  prepared,  and  made  receptive  to  His  teach- 
ing. In  the  field  of  her  soul,  unconscious  husband- 
men had  been  sowing  God's  harvest.  Who  they  were 
we  know  not,  except  that  Moses  and  the  Patriarchs 
had  no  doubt  done  their  share  through  the  first  Five 
Books  of  the  Scriptures.  But  there  must  have  been 
many  obscure  servants  of  God,  who  knew  not  even 
that  they  were  planting  for  Him,  but  who  had  never- 
theless labored  to  prepare  His  harvest  in  the  woman 


90  SAINT  JOHN 


of  Sychar  and  her  fellow-villagers.  Indeed,  their  con- 
version served  our  Lord  as  material  for  a  lesson  to 
the  Apostles,  that  they  also  must  be  prepared  to  sow 
spiritual  seed  from  which  other  agents  of  His  would 
reap  and  garner  {w.  36-38). 

The  Samaritans  prove  to  us  that  we  may  find  a 
great  opportunity  to  sow  for  Christ  among  people 
whose  receptiveness  we  would  never  suspect.  St. 
John  emphasizes  the  fact  of  their  remarkable  willing- 
ness to  believe  in  Christ  by  contrasting  with  it  the  infi- 
delity of  Jerusalem.  For  Jerusalem  was  divinely 
named  the  ** Vision  of  Peace";  Sychar  was  the  "Town 
of  the  Liar"  or  ''the  Drunkard."  Our  Lord  sought 
Jerusalem  many  times;  "He  must  needs  go  through 
Samaria."  Jerusalem  refused  to  believe  His  many 
miracles,  His  revelations  and,  His  crowning  proof,  the 
manifestation  of  His  Divine  Personality;  Sychar  be- 
lieved on  the  statement  of  one  poor  sinner,  who  only 
half  credited  her  own  message  {v.  29,  A.  V.  Marg.). 
The  Pharisees  in  the  Gate  of  Jerusalem  said,  with 
jealous  hatred,  ''Perceive  ye  how  ye  prevail  nothing? 
behold  the  world  is  gone  after  Him"  (xii:i9);  the 
people  of  Sychar  stood  in  their  gate  and  said,  in  joyous 
faith,  "This  is  indeed  the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the 
world."  It  seems  that  our  Lord  never  slept  in  Jeru- 
salem, but  He  tarried  two  nights  in  Sychar.  Jerusa- 
lem excommunicated  and  outlawed  Him ;  Sychar  kept 
beseeching  Him  to  abide  there  permanently. 

It  seems  evident,  therefore,  that  we  Christians  have 
a  great  work  to  do  for  Jesus  by  simply  being  His 
servants,  and  exercising,  quite  unconsciously,  a  holy 
influence  over  those  among  whom  we  move  in  our  ob- 
scure life.  It  was  to  those  who  would  seem  to  be 
most  unlikely  to  receive  Him,  "babes,"  the  "blind," 


SAINT  JOHN 


the  "sick,"  the  outcasts  and  the  sinners,  that  our  Lord 
declared  Himself  especially  sent.  Let  us  think  our- 
selves happy  that  we  may  sow  in  these  chosen  fields  of 
His  the  seed  of  His  eternal  harvest. 

featuttiap  "after  fte  Sieconti  ^untiag 
<attet  (Epip&anp 

€|)ri0t*0  l^erfrct  ^ruet  in  Wi% 

The  conversion  of  the  Sycharites  occurred  in  Jan- 
uary or  February,  when  the  first  green  shoots  of  the 
coming-  harvest  had  but  just  forced  their  way  through 
the  surface.  The  men  of  the  village  were  to  be  seen 
across  the  fields  leaving  the  gate  on  their  way  to  Jesus. 
It  was  then  that  he  said  to  the  Apostles,  "Say  not  ye, 
there  are  yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest? 
Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on 
the  fields ;  for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest." 
What  did  He  mean?  There  was  only  the  early  prom- 
ise of  a  crop  springing  from  the  soil  before  them,  nor 
was  there  more  than  the  first  beginning  of  the  spiritual 
harvest  in  the  souls  of  the  Samaritans.  Where  then 
was  the  ripe  grain  which  Jesus  saw  ? 

In  His  eyes,  the  long  development  of  those  poor 
catechumens,  with  but  the  first  ray  of  Gospel-light  in 
their  souls,  was  already  accomplished.  So  unquestion- 
ing was  His  faith  in  them,  and  so  complete  His  assur- 
ance that  they  would  go  on  to  become  an  everlasting 
harvest  for  His  Heavenly  storehouse,  that  He  accepted 
them  even  in  the  inception  of  their  salvation,  as  al- 
ready fully  prepared  for  eternal  life. 

Such  a  magnanimous  trust  in  us  is  a  challenge  to 
our  loyalty.    For  we  can  never  consent  to  disappoint 


92  SAINT  JOHN 


Christ's  absolute  confidence  in  us.  And  when  we  be- 
hold our  Lord  so  triumphant,  so  happy,  over  this  first 
welcome  of  His  Word,  by  a  few  Samaritans,  we  feel 
bound  to  take  up  our  struggle  for  perfection  afresh, 
if  it  were  but  to  bring  that  joyful  smile  to  His  lips,  as 
He  sees  in  us  the  first  green  shoots  and  counts  His 
harvest  certain. 

W^t  ^|)trti  Mleeft  Sfter  t|)e  ®ptp|)anp  £)ctabe* 
Read  St.  John  iv  :  43-v  :  20 

3fe0U)3  aiaUelcominB  'Becinninc?  of  IFaitl^ 

Our  Lord  had  been  cast  off  by  His  own  country, 
Judea,  and  by  His  own  village  of  Nazareth.  Conse- 
quently, when  He  returned  into  Galilee,  it  was  grate- 
ful to  His  bruised  Heart  that  "the  Galileans  received 
Him."  But  the  Greek  word  for  ''receive"  is  one  which 
is  used  here  only  in  St.  John.  It  is  chosen  for  a  par- 
ticular purpose,  which  is  to  indicate  that  the  reception 
thus  granted  to  our  Saviour  was  one  inspired  by 
ephemeral  enthusiasm  because  of  His  miracles  at  Jeru- 
salem (cp.  vi:66).  We  wish  that  the  Apostle  could 
have  used  that  other  word  which  involves  the  idea  of 
intention  to  retain  after  receiving.  But,  imperfect  as 
He  knew  their  welcome  to  be,  Jesus  valued  it  as  honor- 
ing Him  in  the  way  ''His  own  country"  had  refused 
to  do. 

"He  came,  therefore,"'  St.  John  continues,  "again  in- 
to Cana  of  Galilee  where  He  made  the  water  wine."  He 
means  by  his  "therefore,"  that,  because  of  the  hopeful 
reception  given  Christ  by  the  Galileans,  He  was  en- 
couraged to  pause  again  at  the  most  favorable  point  for 


SAINT  JOHN  93 


the  development  of  their  faith,  the  village  where  some 
had  "believed  into  Him"  after  His  first  great  "sign." 
And,  in  fact.  He  was  rewarded  by  the  opportunity  of 
helping  one  who  had  probably  begun  to  believe  through 
the  report  of  the  miracle  at  the  wedding  feast. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  as  if  our  Lord  rebuffed  the 
nobleman,  for  He  said  unto  him,  "Except  ye  see  signs 
and  wonders,  ye  will  not  believe."  But,  in  fact,  this 
was  addressed  to  the  crowd  of  Galileans  gathered 
around  Him.  It  is  an  appeal  to  them  to  accept,  and 
value  supremely,  a  proof  of  His  Deity  higher  than  that 
of  miracles,  that  is  the  revelation  of  His  Personality. 
He  does  indeed  fault  these  old  neighbors  of  His  be- 
cause they  had  not  learned  to  believe  in  Him  during 
the  thirty  years  of  His  life  at  Nazareth.  Like  the 
people  of  Jerusalem  (vii:  27),  they  had  not  been  able 
to  accept  the  Divine  revealed  in  the  midst  of  the  com- 
monplace. The  very  fact  that  they  knew  Him  as  the 
village  Carpenter  had  blinded  them  to  the  plain,  daily, 
manifestation  of  His  Divine  perfection.  But  He  gave 
the  inferior  ''sign"  willingly  and  gladly,  welcoming 
the  imperfect  faith  of  the  people.  Is  it  not  encourag- 
ing to  us  that  our  Lord  prizes  thus  even  our  earliest 
beginnings  of  perfect  faith ! 

matter  Cp(p6anp 

3[e)3ui3  anH  W^m  in  {ll?eroH'0  IPalace 

The  nobleman  who  came  to  our  Lord  seeking  the 
cure  of  his  son  was  one  of  King  Herod  Antipas* 
household.  Later,  the  Tetrarch  seems  to  know  of  His 
miraculous  power,  and  probably  it  was  the  healing  of 


94  SAINT  JOHA 


this  sick  boy  and  the  cure  of  Joanna  the  wife  of 
Chuza  his  steward  which  had  attracted  his  attention 
(St.  Luke  viii:2f. ;  xxiii:8).  No  doubt  his  keen 
intellectual  curiosity  led  him  to  investigate  these  two 
miracles  thoroughly,  so  that  through  them  all  the  love 
and  mercy  of  God  were  clearly  exemplified  to  him. 
Yet,  in  the  end,  he  and  his  soldiers  set  the  God-Man 
at  nought,  at  zero,  because  they  were  disappointed  in 
Christ  as  an  object  of  sensational  interest.  So  it  is 
that  some  are  quite  fascinated  by  the  Catholic  Faith, 
at  first,  but  finally  they  fall  away  because  their  religion 
has  been  purely  intellectual,  or  aesthetic,  and  has  never 
laid  open  their  hearts  and  consciences  to  Jesus. 

Many  think  that  the  nobleman  was  Chuza.  At  all 
events,  Herod's  steward  had  this  child's  cure,  as  well 
as  the  healing  of  his  wife,  to  effect  his  conversion, 
and  it  appears  that  he  became  a  disciple.  Certainly,  he 
permitted  his  wife,  Joanna,  to  follow  our  Lord  in  His 
journeys,  with  the  other  holy  women,  and  to  minister 
to  Him  of  the  family  "substance."  In  this  way  he 
represents  to  us  those  who  are  occupied  with  the  af- 
fairs of  the  world,  and  yet  give  their  alms,  their  dear 
ones,  and  their  own  hearts  to  their  Saviour. 

There  was  one  other  in  that  luxurious  court,  who 
learned  of  Christ's  miracles.  This  was  the  king's  fos- 
ter-brother, Manaen,  a  man  well  past  fifty,  who  had 
been  brought  up  as  one  of  the  family  of  Herod,  mis- 
called the  Great.  All  his  life  he  had  been  the  compan- 
ion of  princes  and  a  sharer  of  their  Oriental  splendor 
and  sensuous  pleasures.  Yet,  at  the  call  of  the  Naza- 
rene,  he  left  wealth,  power  and  a  career,  to  join  the 
Court  of  the  Crucified  (Acts  xiiiri).  May  Jesus 
grant  that  His  Gospel  may  become  as  efficient  in  our 
hearts  as  it  was  in  His  servant  Manaen. 


SAINT  JOHN  95 


matter  (Eptpfianp 

^^e  HatD  of  Hobe  Sbobe  911  2Dtl^er  Hatos 

It  admirably  illustrates  the  eager,  seeking  persist- 
ence of  Jesus'  love,  that  after  being  driven  away  from 
Jerusalem,  and  even  from  Judea,  he  retired  only  to 
plan  another  method  of  appeal  to  His  Capital.  This 
time,  he  would  refer  to  Himself  as  far  as  possible  only 
indirectly  as  "the  Son,"  and  speak  mainly  of  **the 
Father."  The  Samaritans  had  accepted  Him  as  the 
Saviour  sent  by  their  Heavenly  Father;  perhaps  the 
Jews  would  surrender  to  this  same  attack  of  His 
Charity. 

His  Love  was,  moreover,  as  tireless  as  it  was  in- 
genious. Tlie  Jews  persecuted  Him  and  sought  to  kill 
Him  because  He  was  in  the  habit  of  performing  acts  of 
mercy  on  the  Sabbath  {y.  i6).  His  Charity  could  not 
rest.  In  the  case  of  the  impotent  man,  however.  He 
deliberately  chose  the  Sabbath  for  this  conspicuous 
miracle,  in  order  to  teach  His  people  that  the  law  of 
love  is  superior  to  all  other  laws.  And  the  symbolism 
of  the  ''sign"  was  particularly  significant  of  His  mean- 
ing. For  it  was  well  known  that  the  man  had  lain 
there  waiting  for  a  saviour  for  thirty-eight  years,  and 
this  was  exactly  the  period  of  Israel's  punishment  in 
the  wilderness  (Deut.  ii:i4fiF.).  Thus  He  intended 
to  give  the  holy  law  of  charity  the  supreme  sanction 
of  God's  own  example.  Divine  Love  alone  had 
brought  Him  down  to  earth  to  save  His  people,  help- 
less in  their  sin  like  the  paralytic. 

The  third  quality  of  the  love  so  perfectly  exempli- 
fied in  Christ  is  that  it  does  the  more  for  another  in 
proportion,  not  to  his  right,  but  to  his  need.    It  was  the 


%  SAINT  JOHN 


impotent  man's  utter  lack  of  means  to  help  himself 
which  attracted  our  Saviour's  tender  sympathy  {yv. 
6  f.).  In  this,  again,  we  see  how  charity  transcends  all 
canons  based  upon  justice.  See,  then,  how  thoughtful, 
energetic  and  unmeasured  must  be  our  love  if  it  is  to 
be  even  a  little  like  the  Qiarity  of  Christ. 


matter  (Epip^anp 

WcfZ  Habor  of  (Son  for  t^e  aiaaorin 

Our  Saviour  sought  to  explain  to  the  Jews  that  His 
cure  of  the  impotent  man  was  typical  of  God's  Provi- 
dence. "My  Father  worketh  even  until  now,  and  I 
worlc,"  He  declared,  meaning  that  His  deed  of  love 
that  day  was  simply  part  of  the  Divine  work  through- 
out the  ages,  and  had  a  deep,  underlying  harmony  with 
the  whole.  As  God  continually  supports  the  universe 
in  His  Arms,  so  Christ  had  lifted  up  the  helpless  per- 
son. The  Blessed  Trinity  had  sent  the  Son  to  redeem 
the  world;  in  conformity  with  this,  Jesus  had  sought 
to  save  the  cripple  frpm  his  sins  {v.  14).  Divine  Char- 
ity is  seeking  to  restore  our  whole  race  to  Paradise, 
just  as  our  Lord  restored  the  impotent  man  to  his 
home. 

But  the  wonder  of  God's  love  is  that  it  continues 
and  even  increases,  in  spite  of  man's  wickedness  and 
perversity.  The  Jews  turned  our  Saviour's  feasts  into 
crises  of  His  Life-tragedy.  Three  great  miracles, 
which  were  peculiarly  sig*nificant  of  His  Divine  Love, 
this  one  we  are  considering,  the  cure  of  the  man  bom 
blind  (ix),  and  the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the  dead 
(xi),  they  made  the  occasions  of  their  deadly  hatred. 


SAINT  JOHN  97 


Yet  He  only  pressed  on  with  ever-increasing  love,  seek- 
ing their  salvation. 

Still  again,  our  Lord  proved  to  us  that  God  attends 
to  each  detail  of  every  man's  welfare.  At  the  risk  of 
insult,  or  even  stoning,  He  sought  the  restored  cripple 
in  the  temple,  because  He  must  teach  him  the  spiritual 
lesson  of  his  cure.  Evidently,  his  paralysis  had  been 
due  to  some  habit  of  sin,  and  he  must  be  freed  from 
this.  He  at  once  rewarded  our  Lord  by  informing  the 
Jews  as  to  Who  had  healed  him — which  is  another 
sign  that  he  was  as  poor  material  as  any  of  us.  Can 
we  not,  then,  believe  with  entire  conviction,  that  our 
Saviour's  Providence  vigilantly  provides  for  every 
need  of  our  bodies  and  souls,  as  it  did  for  this  crippled 
brother  of  ours  ?  . 

U6ur0lia^  matter  tje  Ws^xt^  ^untiap 
^tur  Cpipfianp 

^an  SPuet  Cooperate  WJiVo  <Soti 

The  three  of  our  Saviour's  cures,  wrought  on  the 
Sabbath,  which  are  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  were  all 
of  impotence.  They  were,  the  healing  of  paralysis  in 
the  passage  we  are  studying,  of  the  withered  hand,  of 
the  spirit  of  infirmity,  and  of  the  dropsy  (St.  Matt. 
xii:9ff. ;  St.  Luke  xiiirioff. ;  St.  Luke  xiv:2ff.). 
The  lesson  is  that  man  is  to  be,  like  God,  a  pure  act 
of  love,  not  for  six  days  only,  but  for  seven,  in  every 
week.  On  the  Christian  Sabbath,  this  energy  of  love 
will  manifest  itself  in  attendance  at  the  great  ap- 
pointed act  of  worship,  the  Blessed  Eucharist.  We  can 
have  no  share  with  a  God  who  works  seven  whole  days 
a  week,  if  we  spend  all  of  Sunday  in  rest  and  recrea- 
tion. 


98  SAINT  JOHN 


The  paralytic  was  made  to  participate  in  the  instruc- 
tive miracle  of  his  cure  by  three  acts  which  our  Lord 
carefully  directed ;  he  was  told  to  rise,  take  up  his  bed, 
and  walk  home  with  it.  In  this  way  he  assisted  in 
teaching  the  law  of  love's  activity  on  the  Sabbath, 
even,  indeed,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  for  the  rabbinic 
law  denounced  death  against  any  who  carried  a  bur- 
den on  that  day.  May  not  we  help  our  Lord  teach 
the  reign  of  love  on  His  day? 

After  a  time,  the  restored  cripple  sought  Jesus  in 
the  crowd,  and  found  Him  not.  Then  he  went  into 
the  temple,  probably  to  make  his  thanksgiving,  and 
there  our  Lord  came  to  him.  Not  on  the  streets  in 
the  crowds,  nor  anywhere  else  will  we  find  the  I^rd  of 
the  Sabbath,  as  we  shall  meet  Him  in  His  House  at 
the  Sacrifice  of  Thanksgiving. 


matter  (Epipjanp 

W\^2X  €|)ri)3t  Cannot  Do 

''The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself,"  our  Lord 
declared,  "except  what  He  seeth  the  Father  do,  for 
what  things  soever  He  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son 
likewise,  for  the  Father  loveth  the  Son  and  showeth 
Him  all  things  that  Himself  doeth."  This  statement 
appears  at  the  beginning  of  the  discourse,  really  a  comr 
pact  theological  treatise,  addressed  to  "a  small  trained 
audience,"  probably  the  Sanhedrin  {w.  19-47).  It 
expresses  in  simple  words  the  absolute  unity  of  Will 
and  Mind  in  the  Persons  of  the  Godhead.  It  asserts 
not  a  limitation  of  Christ's  Power,  but  an  attribute  of 
His  Character  as  the  Son  of  God. 


SAINT  JOHN  99 


"I  can  of  Mine  Own  Self  do  nothing/'  he  said  in 
the  same  instruction;  '*as  I  hear  I  judge."  This  is 
again  His  Essential  oneness  with  His  Father.  That 
His  power  is  free  from  any  real  limitation  appears 
from  the  fact  that  He  had  absolute  dominion  over  His 
own  human  Life.  "No  one  taketh  [My  Life]  from 
Me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  Myself,"  He  said  (x:  i8). 
Only  God  could  claim  thus  to  control  His  own  fate 
without  let  or  hindrance.  So  jealous,  however,  was. 
He,  of  maintaining  His  relation  of  Sonship  to  His 
Father  inviolate,  that  this  assertion  of  His  right  to* 
die  for  us  *of  Himself  stands  alone,  and  even  in  this. 
He  adds  immediately  that  all  would  be  done  under 
His  Father's  commandment. 

Yet  there  are  limitations  imposed  upon  Christ's 
action  by  the  free  will  of  creatures.  He  was  hindered 
from  works  of  mercy  by  their  unbelief  (St.  Mark 
vi:  5).  On  the  other  hand,  He  declared  that  His  love 
was  constrained  by  the  prayers  of  a  Saint,  so  that  He 
suspended  His  just  punishment  of  the  worshippers  of 
the  golden  calf  (Ex.  xxxii:7-io).  Thus,  impossibili- 
ties for  Christ  are  due  always  to  the  Love  which  is  His 
Nature,  except  that  one  by  which  human  unbelief 
stems  the  torrent  of  His  mercy. 


^(ter  (Epip^an^ 

C|)rt!9t'!S  Slbarice 

Our  Lord  was  like  a  miser,  in  the  way  He  turned 
everything  to  account  in  gaining  for  Himself  more 
treasures,  that  is  disciples.  Thus,  He  even  employed 
the  wonder  which  He  aroused,  by  His  miracles,  in 


100  SAINT  JOHN 


order  to  start  souls  in  the  path  that  would  lead  to 
perfect  faith  in  Him.  "The  Father,"  he  said  to  the 
Jews,  "will  show  the  Son  greater  works  than  these, 
that  ye  may  marvel."  The  signs  of  His  Divine  Power 
which  He  had  shown  them  had  failed  to  inspire  even 
the  first  faint  gleam  of  faith  in  their  minds.  Then  He 
would  perform  still  more  stupendous  miracles  in  the 
hope  of  arresting  their  attention,  and  ultimately  sav- 
ing them. 

In  His  almost  incredible  eagerness  for  His  creatures' 
love,  He  had  constructed  a  kind  of  ladder  of  faith,  as 
we  can  collect  from  St.  John:  First  He  led  them  to 
believe  in  His  miracles  as  genuine  signs  of  His  Holi- 
ness, Love  and  Power.  Next,  they  would  naturally 
'believe  Him,'  that  is  His  testimony,  "for  the  very 
works'  sake."  Then,  they  would  go  on  to  take  His 
word  for  His  truthfulness,  on  the  basis,  now,  of  His 
Personal  Perfection.  Another  step  upward,  and  they 
would  believe  in  His  Name,  Jesus  Christ,  the  anointed 
Saviour.  Finally  they  would  arrive  at  the  highest 
and  truest  faith,  belief  ''into  Him."  This  involved 
complete  self-surrender,  and  the  acceptance  explicitly 
of  what  He  had  taught  and  implicitly  of  all  that  He 
would  subsequently  reveal. 

The  character  of  this  faith  He  so  ardently  craved 
appears  from  the  one  instance  of  the  appearance  in  the 
other  Gospels  of  the  phrase  by  which  St.  John  always 
distinguishes  it  (St.  Matt.  xviii:6).  There  our  Lord 
speaks  of  the  "little  ones"  who  "believe  into  Him." 
Let  us  satisfy  His  dear  covetous  Heart  by  giving  Him 
the  unquestioning  faith  of  children  in  all  the  great 
mysteries  He  has  revealed  to  His  Church. 


SAINT  JOHN  101 


^or  t^f  iFour  O.^ps  IFoIIotoing,  Read  St.  John  v :  21-47 

Courts  feuntiap  ^iitt  CEpipftan? 

Cferiat'gi  IfuUgmrnt 

It  must  have  occurred  to  us  all  in  reading  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  that  the  office  of  judging  the  world  is  assigned 
in  one  place  to  the  Father,  in  another  to  the  Son  of 
Man,  and  in  a  third  to  the  Word  of  our  Lord  (xii: 
47  f. ;  V  :  22 ;  xii :  48  f.),  The  apparent  contradiction 
of  these  passages  raises  a  question  which  is  aggravated 
by  the  fact  that  our  Lord  also  ascribes  the  Judgment 
to  the  Apostles,  and  St.  Paul  to  the  Saints  (St.  Matt. 
xix:  28;  I  Cor.  vi :  2). 

The  solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  the  method  of 
the  judgment.  Souls  will  know  their  fate,  at  the  last, 
by  simply  coming  into  the  Presence  of  the  Father,  the 
Son  and  Their  Saints.  By  the  sheer  fact  of  what  They 
are  They  will  judge  who  appear  before  them. 

The  truth  of  this  explanation  will  appear  more 
clearly,  if  we  consider  how  our  Lord  continually 
judged  souls  on  earth.  His  every  word,  whether  or 
not  it  was  meant  to  rebuke,  awoke  penitence  or  re- 
morse, devotion  or  hatred.  His  miracles,  like  the 
draught  of  fishes  which  pierced  St.  Peter  with  sucb 
poignant  self-reproach  (St.  Luke  v:  8),  inevitably  lai(^ 
bare  the  secrets  of  hearts.  He  looked  upon  the  Rich 
Young  Man  with  such  great  love,  that  he  went  away 
very  sorrowful  over  the  ''great  refusal"  he  had  made. 
But  most  of  all  Jesus  judged  souls  by  what  He  was. 
We  ourselves  know  people,  who,  not  only  by  word  or 
deed  or  look,  but  by  their  very  presence  silently,  un- 
consciously condemn  what  is  evil  in  us.  How  much 
more  surely  does  the  Son  of  Man  judge  the  whole 
human  race  as  it  passes  before  His  tribunal!     Men 


102  SAINT  JOHN 


deny  the  Last  Judgment,  but  that  is  only  the  finale  of 
a  series  which  they  cannot  deny,  for  it  began  with 
the  appearance  in  the  world  of  the  Incarnate  God, 
and  is  going  on  day  by  day.  It  is  the  fashion  in  our 
time  for  everyone  to  judge  Christ.  Let  us  live  in  the 
recollection  of  the  fact  that  He  is  daily,  hourly,  judg- 
ing us.  , 

Qponlia^  attft  i\t  Jfouttl)  feunUap 
matter  (Ep^pSan? 

%^t  CtDO  tRf0urrectton0 

If  we  observe  carefully,  we  find  that  our  Lord 
revealed  to  the  Sanhedrin,  in  the  passage  we  are  study- 
ing, that  there  is  a  spiritual  resurrection  during  this 
present  life  {w.  2i-2y),  as  well  as  that  bodily  resur- 
rection to  which  we  will  come  at  the  last  ivv.  28  f.j. 
"The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is,"  he  solemnly  de- 
clared to  them,  "when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  that  hear  shall  live." 
This  is  very  different  from  that  hour  which  is  "com- 
ing,"— He  does  not  say  "and  now  is" — "  in  the  which 
all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  His  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth,"  the  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life 
and  the  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation.  Men 
are  not  constrained  to  hear  Jesus'  voice  summoning 
them  to  the  spiritual  resurrection;  they  cannot  choose 
but  hearken  when  He  calls  them  forth  from  their 
graves  at  the  last  day. 

This  then  is  what  our  Baptism  meant,  our  resurrec- 
tion from  death  into  eternal  life.  Jesus  Christ  is  reign- 
ing in  our  midst.  Our  archenemy  has  been  so  chained 
that  he  can  deceive  us  no  more.    Already  we  may  share 


SAINT  JOHN  103 


the  peace  and  joy  of  our  Saviour,  seeing  Him  with  our 
spiritual  eyes  (Rev.  xx:  1-4;  St.  John  xiv:  19). 

But  one  thing  is  needed  to  secure  to  us  all  the 
precious  things  of  our  spiritual  resurrection,  and  that 
is  the  recollection  of  our  union  with  our  King.  A 
missionary  tells  us  of  a  woman  in  China,  a  Buddhist 
who,  poor  heathen  as  she  was,  may  teach  us  the  hap- 
piness of  abiding  in  Jesus'  Presence.  She  was  the 
head  of  an  orphanage  which  was  about  to  be  attacked 
by  soldiers  in  one  of  the  recent  revolutions.  Her  in- 
vocations of  Buddha  had  proved  fruitless.  The  car- 
nage in  the  streets  around  her  institution  was  drawing 
ever  closer,  and  in  a  little  while  she  and  500  children 
would  be  slaughtered  for  the  sake  of  their  store  of  rice. 
In  despair  she  bethought  herself  of  a  little  New  Testa- 
ment in  Chinese  and  sitting  down  she  began  to  read  it. 
Immediately  she  realized  that  there  was  a  Presence 
behind  her,  powerful  and  loving  enough  to  protect  her 
against  all  her  enemies.  All  night  long  she  read,  and 
all  night  there  was  One  Who  spread  His  Wing  over 
her.  In  the  morning  she  found  that  not  even  the  plas- 
ter of  the  orphanage  walls  had  been  marred.  But 
why  should  she,  while  yet  a  pagan,  enjoy  our  Lord, 
and  we  never  realize  that  in  His  Presence  is  the  ful- 
ness of  joy  and  pleasure  forevermore  (Ps.  xvi :  11)  ? 

ttuegflia^  rafter  tfie  ifouttS  ^unliap 
matter  (CpipSan? 

/r^atural  Eebelationis  of  <SoIi 

When  Christ  rebuked  the  Jews  because  they  had 
neither  heard  the  Father's  Voice  at  any  time,  nor  seen 
his  Shape,  nor  had  His  Word  abiding  in  them,  He 
complained  of  actual  failures  to  practice  the  Presence 


104  SAINT  JOHN 


of  God  in  three  ways  which  were  perfectly  practical 
for  them.  They  ought  to  have  heard  His  Voice  in 
history,  particularly  that  of  their  own  people  in  which 
His  guidance  was  so  remarkably  evident.  Then,  they 
would  have  realized  that  the  whole  world  had  been 
prepared  for  the  Incarnation,  by  the  universal  spread 
of  the  Greek  language  and  philosophy  and  of  Roman 
civilization.  But  are  not  we  Christians  obnoxious  to 
His  criticism  in  this  regard?  We  give  over  secular 
history,  even  that  which  closely  touches  the  Catholic 
claims  of  the  Anglican  Communion,  to  seculars  whose 
interpretation  is  too  often  thoroughly  pagan.  Nor 
have  we  realized,  any  more  perfectly  than  did  the  Jews, 
our  obligation  to  discern  the  Divine  Presence  imma- 
nent in  the  history  of  our  race. 

The  Form  of  God  should  appear  to  our  eyes  behind 
the  sacramental  veil  of  Nature.  The  thunder  is  His 
Voice,  "manifesting  the  ardor  of  His  wrath  against 
iniquity"  (Job  xxxvi:33,  literally  translated).  ''Lift 
up  a  stone  and  I  am  there,"  He  says  to  His  children. 
In  a  word, 

"Earth's  crammed  with  heaven, 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God." 

How  sacred  our  whole  environment  would  be  if  only 
we  saw  the  Father's  "Shape"  everywhere ! 

His  Word,  also,  ought  to  abide  in  our  conscience, 
which  means,  of  course,  that  we  must  obey  it  habitual- 
ly. For  a  conscience  which  continually  regards  the 
Divine  Will  becomes  continually  clearer;  and  the  con- 
science is  simply  the  intellect  engaged  in  one  of  its 
activities.  Our  mind,  therefore,  by  filial  submission 
to  our  Father's  Word,  will  become  always  better  able 
to  see  Him,  in  the  Beatific  Vision,  throughout  eternity. 


SAINT  JOHN  105 


dflletineoiiap  matter  t^e  jFouttS  feuntiap 

OEiternal  i^rl))?  to  fi^obe 

The  Jews  had  a  complete  system  of  devotional  helps 
by  which  God  intended  that  they  should  receive  into 
their  hearts  more  and  more  love  for  Him.  There  were 
the  tefiUin,  small  metal  cases  containing  the  great 
primal  text  of  their  religion,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  might.''  These  were  worn  strapped  upon 
the  arm  and  upon  the  forehead,  at  prayer,  according 
to  their  interpretation  of  the  Divine  command  (Deut. 
vi:4-8).  A  similar  case  called  the  mezuza  was  in- 
serted in  the  door-frame,  and  the  careful  Israelite 
always  touched  the  facing  as  he  entered,  in  order  to 
remind  himself  of  the  precept  of  love  enshrined  there. 
Finally,  the  knotted  fringe  of  the  prayer  shawls,  the  * 
zizith,  were  also  intended  to  commemorate  God's  com- 
mand to  love  Him  (Deut.  vi :  9 ;  Num.  xv :  37  ff.) . 

We  cannot  doubt  that  God  was  at  least  willing  to 
have  His  people  remind  themselves  by  these  devotional 
objects,  of  their  obligation  to  love  Him.  For  Christ 
must  have  used  the  customary  ritual  signs  of  His  peo- 
ple continually.  There  is,  it  seems,  evidence  that  He 
wore  the  zizith,  for  it  was  this  which  the  woman  with 
the  issue  touched  in  order  to  be  healed  (St.  Luke  viii: 
44).  Surely,  therefore,  it  is  proper  for  us  to  use  such 
devotional  helps  as  sacred  pictures  in  our  houses  and 
to  wear  a  cross  or  a  crucifix,  concealed  it  may  be,  in 
order  to  stimulate  the  love  of  God  in  our  hearts. 

We  must,  however,  bear  constantly  in  mind  that 
ritual,  even  though  it  has  the  sanction  of  our  Lord  and 
His  Church,  is  only  a  means  whereby  we  may  grow  in 


106  SAINT  JOHN 


divine  charity.  To  the  Jews,  after  all  their  devotional 
advantages,  our  Lord  gave  that  stern,  sorrowful  re- 
buke, "I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God 
in  you."  Let  us  use  sacred  objects  as  He  did,  always 
as  a  means  of  concentrating  imagination,  mind  and 
will  upon  God.  . 

JFor  t|)e  W^ut  Dap0  ipollotomc*  Read  St.  John  vi :  1-23 

^Sut^dap  after  X\z  JFouttJ  &unUap 
•after  (Kpipfjan? 

W^t  ^^xee  iFea0t!9  {^robiDeH  bp  Hobe 

Our  Saviour  may  be  said  to  have  divided  His  Min- 
istry into  three  parts,  and  He  concluded  all  of  these 
with  feasts.  The  first  was  His  Galilean  Ministry, 
which  ended  with  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand. 
The  humble  barley  bread  of  the  peasants  with  little 
fish  from  the  lake  was  the  food  which  our  Lord  mul- 
tiplied, and  gave  to  Israelites  only,  as  their  Messiah. 
He  provided  but  a  single  meal,  for  the  people  were 
near  their  homes  or  lodgings ;  and  the  Twelve  gath- 
ered together  only  fragments  enough  to  fill  their  little 
wicker  wallets  with  store  sufficient  for  their  next 
repast. 

In  contrast  with  this  miracle,  in  many  details,  is  the 
feeding  of  the  four  thousand,  which  ended  the  min- 
istry in  Decapolis.  Seven  wheaten  loaves  were  used, 
and  our  Lord,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  provided  the  feast 
for  a  multitude  largely  composed  of  Gentiles.  Evi- 
dently, too.  He  gave  them  an  ample  supply  for  their 
long  journey  homeward  (St.  Matt,  xv:  32  flF.).  More- 
over, the  Apostles  filled  seven  hampers  full  of  the 
broken  food,  for  they  were  sojourning  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  must  provide  for  many  days. 


SAINT  JOHN 


The  third  Banquet  was  the  Gift  of  Love  which 
crowned  the  Judean  Ministry,  and  in  one  way  consum- 
mated Christ's  whole  work  in  the  world.  This  was 
the  Blessed  Eucharist,  by  which  as  the  High  Priest 
of  the  Catholic  Qiurch  He  feeds  five  hundred  millions 
with  the  very  Bread  of  Heaven.  For  He  must 
strengthen  His  Own  for  their  journey  of  life  through 
the  wilderness  of  this  world. 


jFtitiap  mttt  Hz  JFourtI)  feuntiap 
mtn  €pip6anp 

^|)e  iForejB|)atiotDinQ  of  t|)e  l^lta^tW  iSacramrnt 

The  miraculous  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  is  the 
only  one  of  our  Lord's  miracles  narrated  by  the  other 
three  Gospels  and  included  also  in  the  Fourth.  Prob- 
ably St.  John's  reason  for  making  this  exception  to  his 
usual  rule  of  not  repeating  what  His  fellow  Evangel- 
ists have  recorded  for  us  was  that  the  miracle  was  of 
extraordinary  value  as  a  type  of  Holy  Communion. 
He  is  at  great  pains  to  tell  us  how  apparently  inade- 
quate were  the  materials.  The  buns  were  of  the 
despised  barley  flour,  the  fish  were  tiny,  and  both  these 
were  simply  the  luncheon  of  a  little  lad.  It  is  as  if  he 
would  urge  that  the  poverty  of  the  wafers  and  wine 
on  the  altar  is  no  greater  than  that  of  the  means  used 
by  Jesus  for  the  feeding  of  many  thousand. 

The  people  sat  down  in  orderly  ranks  (St.  Mark 
vi:  40),  evidently  expecting  a  full  meal,  although  there 
was  apparently  nothing  for  them  to  eat.  Does  it  not 
suggest  to  us  St.  John's  congregation  waiting  for  the 
Banquet  of  Love,  their  kneeling  posture  and  extended 
hands  indicating  that  they  expect  to  fill  their  souls  with 


108  SAINT  JOHN 


Him  who  is  the  Bread  of  Heaven,  while  yet  the  altar 
seems  to  be  supplied  with  nought  but  a  little  bread 
and  wine? 

Lastly,  in  the  first  three  Gospels  Jesus  is  said  to  have 
"blessed"  the  bread  and  fish,  but  St.  John  speaks  of 
Him  as  multiplying  the  food  by  ''giving  thanks"  over 
it  (St.  Matt,  xiv:  19;  St.  Mark  vi:4i;  St.  Luke  ix: 
16 ;  St.  John  vi :  1 1 ,  23 ) .  Now,  this  act  of  saying  grace 
before  the  meal  was  characteristic  of  the  father  of  a 
family.  And  it  is  in  Holy  Communion  that  the  Incar- 
nate Lord  redeems  that  promise  of  His,  *'I  will  not 
leave  you  orphans;  I  will  come  to  you"  (xiv:  18,  A.  V. 
Marg.).  When  He  had  given  them  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment, for  the  first  time  He  called  them  His  "little  chil- 
dren" (xiii:  33).  Thus,  while  Jesus  is  our  Brother  in 
the  "household  of  God,"  in  the  Holy  Communion  He 
is  also  our  Father  since  He  gives  us  His  own  Hu- 
manity. . 

featurtia?  jattet  tfte  jFoutt^  &untiap 
jatttt  (EpipSanp 

C|)n)5t*0  Di0cipIine 

The  storm  which  is  described  by  St.  John  appears 
also  in  the  parallel  accounts  of  two  previous  Gospels, 
St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  (xiv:  23  ff. ;  vi :  46  ff.).  It 
had  impressed  itself  deeply  upon  the  Apostolic  band 
by  reason,  not  only  of  the  danger,  but  of  the  blessed 
discipline  of  which  it  was  the  occasion.  They  had 
started  in  a  northwesterly  direction  across  the  lake 
and  the  gale  was  blowing  from  that  quarter,  in  their 
very  teeth,  so  that  they  were  "wallowing"  in  the  sea 
and  making  no  headway.  Then,  it  must  have  seemed 
a  strange  way  in  which  they  were  being  given  their 


SAINT  JOHN  109 


promised  rest  (St.  Mark  vi:3i),  besides  being  a  use- 
less venture,  for  they  were  leaving  behind  the  oppor- 
tunity of  making  Jesus  king.  Worst  of  all  they  were 
alone,  an  element  of  their  trouble  which  all  three  ac- 
counts emphasize.  Surely  they  must  have  been  great- 
ly tempted  to  think  that  either  Jesus'  wisdom  or  His 
power  had  failed  them  at  last. 

Throughout  the  long,  stormy  night.  He  had  been 
praying  for  strength  to  be  the  Saviour,  rather  than 
an  earthly  king.  Probably  the  Apostles  had  not  wait- 
ed for  Him  but  had  started  across  the  lake,  thinking 
that  He  must  have  preceded  them.  From  His  position 
on  the  mountain,  He  saw  them  ''toiling  in  rowing" 
(St.  Mark  vi :  48).  The  expressive  word  for  ''toiling" 
in  the  original  is  that  used  of  testing  by  torture.  And 
yet  he  waited  until  the  fourth  watch,  the  black  hour 
just  before  the  dawn,  in  order  to  discipline  and  develop 
their  faith  in  Him.  At  last,  in  the  gray  dawn  they 
saw  Him  coming  to  them  over  the  waves,  now  visible 
on  the  summit  of  a  billow,  now  lost  in  the  deep  trough 
of  the  sea,  again  mounting  the  crest  of  a  wave  like 
some  majestic  spirit,  and  then  again  hidden  by  a  cloud 
of  spray.  When  they  had  received  Him  in  the  boat 
immediately  it  was  at  the  port  for  which  they  were 
making. 

St.  John  has  grouped  this  "sign"  together  with  that 
of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  because  both 
taught  the  Apostles  new  convictions  of  Jesus'  power 
over  physical  nature.  "He  can  support  men  though 
visible  means  fall  short.  He  is  with  His  Disciples 
though  they  do  not  recognize  or  see  Him."  Thus  their 
minds  were  prepared  for  the  instruction  which  imme- 
diately followed  on  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  For  it 
was   evident  that   He   Who   could  compel   wind   and 


no  SAINT  JOHN 


wave  to  do  His  bidding  could  also  feed  them  with  His 
own  precious  Body.  If  He  could  surmount  every 
impasse  of  physical  nature  to  be  with  them  in  the 
midst  of  the  lake,  surely  no  natural  law  could  bar  Him 
out  from  the  midst  of  His  toiling  Church  on  earth. 

W^z  JFiftI)  aaiCeefe  after  ©pipljanp*  Read  St.  John  vi :  24-71 

(»r^ti0t  Directinc  Jeal 

The  people  who  followed  our  Saviour  on  His  return 
to  Capernaum  were  the  most  zealous  of  those  enthu- 
siastic Galileans  who  had  attempted  to  make  Him  their 
king  by  force.  They  had  proved  their  devotion  by 
continuing  to  watch  for  Him  through  the  whole  night 
after  He  had  withdrawn.  Our  Lord  appreciated  their 
keen  interest,  so  greatly,  in  fact,  that  He  prefaced  His 
instruction  on  the  Blessed  Sacrament  by  a  discourse 
on  true  belief  in  Him.  Immediately  that  He  saw  them, 
He  rewarded  them  with  His  great  fundamental  lesson 
that  His  people  must  seek  Him  primarily,  rather  than 
His  gifts  {v.  26).  As  Ven.  Bede  says,  on  this  verse, 
"Christ  flees  from,  those  who  seek  Him  for  something 
besides  His  own  sake." 

He  then  set  before  them  two  objects  for  which  to 
work.  First,  they  were  to  "labor,  not  for  the  food 
which  perisheth,  but  for  that  Food  which  endureth 
unto  eternal  life,"  which  He  would  give  them.  Thus, 
He  would  have  His  followers  zealous  in  their  prepara- 
tion for  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  Would  it  not  conse- 
crate the  routine  of  our  every-day  life  if  we  performed 
our  tasks,  as  well  as  said  our  prayers,  in  preparation 
for  our  next  Communion?     "It  was  the  Altar  that 


SAINT  JOHN  111 


drew  me,"  says  Mr.  R.  J.  Campbell,  and  many  another^ 
like  him,  has  been  attracted  to  the  Church  by  the  Sac- 
rament of  Love.  But  how  often  the  devotion  of  these 
converts  puts  our  coldness  to  the  blush ! 

Secondly,  Jesus  directed  the  Galileans  that  they 
must  work  in  order  to  believe  ''into  Him"  {y.  29). 
Have  we  realized  that  faith  is  the  reward  of  spiritual 
labor,  with  the  stimulus  and  the  assistance  of  Divine 
grace  ?  Not  only  must  we  strive  for  it,  and  for  more 
and  more  of  it,  but  when  we  have  gained  it,  we  shall 
often  find  it  a  burden  which  we  are  tempted  to  cast 
off.  But  we  must  remember  that  it  is  the  ''work  oj 
God."  ■  And,  by  a  growing  faith  in  the  Mysteries  of 
the  Altar,  we  merit  the  first  and  the  last  Beatitudes, 
both  of  which  are  for  faith  in  the  unseen  verities  of 
our  religion  (St.  Luke  i:4^i.;  St.  John  xx:2g). 


Mttt  d^pipftanp 

€t)wt  life  ^m  of  <8oli  to  J^ts  J^eople 

The  Galileans  who  were  disposed  to  believe  our 
Lord  demanded  that  He  show  them  a  ''sign  from 
Heaven,"  by  which  they  meant  some  miraculous  ma- 
terial gift  like  manna.  In  answer,  Jesus  pointed  to 
Himself  as  God's  Sign  to  His  people.  "Ye  have  seen 
Me/'  he  said  (v.  36).  To  their  Jewish  minds.  His 
Words  meant  that  He  was  Immanuel,  the  Sign  long 
since  promised  to  Israel  (Isa.  vii:  14).  But  we  Chris- 
tians know  Him  also  as  the  Sign  which  is  being  every- 
where "spoken  against,"  and  which  shall  appear  in 
Heaven  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  to  Judg- 
ment  (St.  Luke  ii:34;  St.  Matt.  xxiv:3o).     Surely 


112  SAINT  JOHN 


God  could  not  have  given  us  a  sign  of  His  infinite  love 
more  convincing  than  His  Incarnate  Son,  except  in- 
deed the  Blessed  Sacrament  wherein  even  the  Human- 
ity of  God  is  hidden  under  the  humble  veils  of  our 
food. 

Blind  and  reluctant  as  these  inquirers  were,  our 
Lord's  boundless  charity  toward  them  never  for  a 
moment  flagged.  "Him  who  is  coming  to  Me  I  will 
in  no  wise  cast  out,"  He  told  them,  with  yearning  love 
(v.  37,  literally  translated).  He  meant  to  assure  them 
that  His  welcome  would  meet  their  advancing  faith 
half  way,  as,  in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  the 
father  went  to  embrace  the  boy  when  he  was  yet  afar 
off  (St.  Luke  xv:  20). 

It  will  help  us  to  understand  this  quality  in  our 
Lord's  love,  if  we  see  it  illustrated  in  the  conversion 
of  a  certain  woman,  who  has  ever  since  given  herself 
to  the  service  of  His  poor  brethren.  When  she  was  a 
baptized  Unitarian  she  was  drawn  to  the  Blessed 
Eucharist,  and  for  two  years  attended,  of  course  with- 
out communicating.  At  last  a  Sunday  came  when  she 
felt  so  irresistibly  drawn  to  receive  our  Lord  that  she 
determined  to  go  forward  for  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 
But  He  was  beforehand  with  her,  gently  restraining 
her  from  approaching  the  altar,  and  leading  her  in- 
stead to  stand  up,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  her  life, 
recite  the  creed.  How  it  was  wrought  she  under- 
stands not.  Only  she  knows  that  Jesus  came  to  meet 
her  very  first  advance,  when  she  "was  yet  a  great  way 
off,"  and  clasped  her  to  His  breast. 


k 


SAINT  JOHN  113 


$^anna  anH  C^ol?  Communion 

During  His  discourse  on  faith,  our  Lord  was,  it 
seems,  standing  before  the  door  of  the  synagogue  in 
Capernaum,  which,  perhaps  alone  among  all  the  syna- 
gogues of  the  world,  was  surmounted  by  a  representa- 
tion of  the  pot  of  manna,  instead  of  the  usual  seven- 
branched  candlestick.  Later  (at  ^.41),  He  appears  to 
have  entered  the  synagogue  and  there  preached  His 
sermon  on  the  Blessed  Sacrament  {w.  48-63).  All 
the  more  naturally  from  this  image  of  the  manna,  it 
occurred  to  the  Jews  to  compare  our  Lord  with  Moses. 
Could  Jesus  show  them  as  great  a  proof  of  His  author- 
ity from  God  as  the  food  which  Moses  had  obtained 
from  Heaven  for  their  forefathers  in  the  wilderness  ? 

Certainly,  the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes  could 
not  claim  to  be  as  great  as  that  of  the  manna.  For 
that  "bread  from  Heaven"  had  flavors  of  both  oil  and 
honey  (Num.  xi:8:  Ex.  xvi:3i),  and  was  therefore 
far  superior  to  humble  barley  bread.  Moreover,  bread 
taken  from  the  Heavenly  treasury  was  surely  better 
than  any  made  on  earth.  Finally,  it  required  more 
Divine  power  to  feed  six  hundred  thousand  warriors 
six  times  a  week  for  forty  years,  than  to  provide  five 
thousand  with  just  one  meal. 

But  the  ''true  Bread  from  Heaven"  which  is  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  has  these  properties,  as  St.  Chry- 
sostom  explains  to  us,  which  make  it  infinitely  more 
blessed  than  the  manna :  ( i )  It  cometh  down  contin- 
ually; (2)  It  feeds  all  the  world,  not  one  nation  only; 
(3)  It  gives,  not  nourishment  only,  but  eternal  life 
(w.  33,  51). 


114  SAINT  JOHN 


tr^f  ifruit  of  t|)e  I^assion 

When  Jesus  was  sent  to  illuminate  and  save  us,  He 
was  ''sealed"  by  the  Father  {y.  2y).  In  Jewish  ears, 
this  meant  that  He  had  been  solemnly  set  apart  and 
authenticated,  as  the  lambs  in  the  temple  were  ap- 
proved by  the  seal  of  the  priests,  in  token  that  they 
were  fit  for  sacrifice.  Thus  there  is  a  wealth  of  mean- 
ing in  this  saying  of  our  Lord.  The  Father  had 
"sealed"  Him  by  miracles  as  His  own  son,  ordained 
to  be  the  Sacrificial  Victim  for  man's  sin.  And  when, 
presently.  He  promised  to  give  His  Body  and  Blood 
for  the  Food  of  souls,  they  rightly  understood  Him  to 
mean  that  in  some  mysterious  way  His  people  were  to 
feed  upon  Him  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  slain  upon  the 
Altar  of  the  Cross. 

Moreover,  this  conception  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
by  which  it  brings  to  us  the  crucified  Christ,  is  em- 
phasized by  the  fact  that  our  Lord  throughout  the 
discourse  uses  the  word  "Flesh,"  rather  than  "Body," 
for  His  sacred  Humanity.  The  commentators  agree 
that  His  intention  in  this  was  to  suggest  His  Passion, 
and  that  the  thought  was  further  ai:centuated  by  His 
promise  that  we  should  drink  His  precious  Blood  {v. 
54).  Thus,  when  He  said,  "The  Bread  that  I  will 
give  is  My  Flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world,"  He  wanted  us  to  understand  that  the  life  which 
we  receive  in  Holy  Communion  is  the  fruit  of  His 
Death. 

Still  again,  He  has  selected  a  very  unusual  word  for 
'eating,'  in  the  most  solemn  part  of  His  instruction 
(zn*.  54  ff.).    It  expresses  "not  only  the  simple  fact  of 


SAINT  JOHN  115 


eating,  but  the  process  as  that  which  is  dwelt  upon 
with  pleasure."  There  are  only  two  other  places  in 
the  New  Testament  in  which  this  word  is  found.  One 
is  where  Christ  was  speaking  of  the  godless  sensuality 
which  characterized  mankind  immediately  before  the 
flood,  and  the  other  is  in  His  quotation  with  reference 
to  Judas  of  the  words  ''he  that  eateth  My  bread  hath 
lifted  up  his  heel  against  Me"  (St.  Matt,  xxiv:  38;  St 
John  xiii:  18).  It  appears,  therefore,  that  our  Lord 
expected  us  to  find  an  antidote  against  the  pagan  self- 
indulgence  around  us,  and  against  unfaithfulness  tC' 
Him,  like  that  of  Judas,  in  the  happiness  of  our  Q)m- 
munion.  . 

'StSur^Hap  "after  tje  ifitt^  feunHaj 
atUr  (Epipftan? 

3fefU0*  ILife  ^iben  ^|jroufl|)  t|)e  "Blejajaifli  Sacrament 

Volumes  have  been  written  on  the  Sixth  Chapter  of 
St.  John,  but  we  can  hope  to  point  out  here  only  the 
principal  glories  of  Holy  Communion  which  our  Lord 
reveals  in  it.  That  Blessed  Sacrament  is  Bread  Which 
"(continually)  cometh  down  from  Heaven,"  so  that 
the  supply  of  the  life-principle  it  brings  will  continue 
as  long  as  there  is  a  soul  on  earth  to  receive  it.  He 
who  eats  of  this  Bread,  moreover,  ''shall  live  forever" : 
for  physical  dissolution  is  a  negligible  thing  to  the 
communicant,  since  Jesus  will  pass  with  his  spirit 
through  death  to  immortality.  His  body  also  is  to  be 
'raised  up  at  the  last  day'  full  of  eternal  health  and 
radiance,  because  he  has  fed  upon  that  Flesh  and 
Blood  of  which  the  Life  cannot  be  holden  by  death. 
Finally  his  union  with  Jesus  through  the  Blessed  Sac- 
rament is  so  perfect  that  it  is  comparable  to  nothing 


16  SAINT  JOHN 


lower  than  the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father  in 
the  Blessed  Trinity.     (Cp.  vv.  50-57.) 

Our  communions  must  be  especially  dear  to  us, 
moreover,  because  in  them  our  Lord  in  His  great  love 
condescends  to  touch  our  poor  stained  soul  with  His 
.Immaculate  Soul.  "It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth," 
He  declared,  ''the  Flesh  profiteth  nothing."  Only  for 
a  moment  is  that  blessed  contact  maintained,  but  it  is 
long  enough  for  Him  to  fill  us  to  our  utmost  capacity 
with  ''quickening"  spiritual  life. 

"He  that  eateth  My  Flesh,  and  drinketh  My  Blood," 
He  said,  "abideth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him."  For  Jesus  is 
both  the  center,  and  the  circumference,  of  the  com- 
municant's life.  We  glimpse  the  preciousness  to  St. 
John  of  this  thought  from  the  fact  that  the  expres- 
sion "abide  in  Christ"  is  peculiar  to  Him.  The  lonely 
old  man,  homeless,  and  a  wanderer,  when  not  a  pris- 
oner in  the  quarries  of  Patmos,  found  an  abiding  place 
of  utter  happiness  in  Jesus'  heart  through  his  com- 
munions. X 

f 
jFtitiap  rafter  \\z  JFittf)  feuntiap 

^Belief  in  tlje  IBIeisgeti  iSacramcnt 

AVhat  was  it  which  created  the  line  of  cleavage  so 
plainly  to  be  seen  in  the  passage  before  us,  between 
those  who  rejected  and  those  who  accepted  Christ's 
teaching?  Fundamentally,  it  was  because  they  fol- 
lowed opposite  rules  of  faith.  The  one  group  insisted 
upon  asking  "how"  our  Lord's  revelations  could  be 
true.  Thus  they  demanded  to  know  how  He  could 
say  that  He  had  come  down  from  Heaven,  since  they 
knew  Him  as  a  Nazarene,  and  hozv  He  could  give  them 


SAINT  JOHN  117 


His  Flesh  to  eat.  In  the  end  these  helped  to  crucify 
our  Lord.  The  Twelve,  on  the  contrary,  adopted  the 
rule  thus  expressed  by  St.  Peter :  "We  have  believed 
and  have  come  to  know."  After  their  example,  the 
Church  has  always  taught  her  children  to  believe  first 
of  all  on  her  authority,  and  afterwards  to  learn  the 
reasons  for  the  faith  which  is  in  them. 

The  operation  of  the  two  rules  is  excellently  illus- 
trated by  the  way  in  which  our  Lord's  teaching  about 
the  Sacrament  of  Love  was  received.  The  Jews  said 
of  that  most  gracious  revelation,  'This  is  a  repulsive 
saying.  Who  can  hear  it  [with  patience]'?  {v.  60). 
But  the  Apostles  believed  Jesus  when  He  said  that  His 
words  were  "spirit  and  life," — that  they  revealed  what 
belongs  to  the  spiritual  order  and  gives  life  to  man. 
Accordingly  to  them  His  Teachings  about  the  great 
Mystery  were  "words  of  eternal  life"  {v.  68). 

The  reward  of  believing  on  our  Lord's  Word  what 
we  cannot  fully  understand,  appears  from  the  mag- 
nificent gain  in  their  knowledge  of  Christ's  Person* 
which  was  given  to  the  Apostles,  -because  they  had  ac- 
cepted the  revelation  of  the  Holy  Sacrament.  Before 
this,  they  had  by  their  representative,  St.  Peter,  con- 
fessed Christ  as  "the  Son  of  God"  (St.  Matt,  xiv:  33),.- 
Their  conception  of  Him  then  was,  however,  mainly 
of  His  office  and  prerogatives.  Now  they  knew  Him^ 
as  "the  Holy  One  of  God."  They  were  still  to  ad- 
vance to  the  glory  of  their  confession  that  He  was 
"the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God"  (St.  Matt,  xvi: 
16).  Thus  step  by  step  they  progressed,  first  believ- 
ing, and  subsequently  by  experience,  coming  to  know 
the  truth  they  had  accepted  (v.  69  R.  V.). 


118  SAINT  JOHN 


featurnap  atter  tfie  ififtli  feuntia^ 

{3rr0£brr8nce  in  {^olp  Communion 

'Then  said  Jesus  unto  the  Twelve,  would  ye  also 
go?'  He  implies  wistfully,  that  they  will  answer 
"No"  !  Nor  was  He  disappointed,  for  St.  Peter,  speak- 
ing for  the  Apostles,  not  only  declared,  in  effect,  that 
they  would  steadfastly  follow  their  Master,  but  gave 
three  great  reasons  for  their  perseverance :  ( i )  There 
was  no  one  else  they  could  go  to;  (2)  If  there  were 
another,  Qirist  had  all  they  needed, — the  doctrines  of 
"eternal  life";  (3)  In  fact,  there  was  but  one  Messiah, 
Jesus,  the  Holy  One  of  God.  Now  all  of  these  are  in 
substance  compelling  arguments  for  cleaving  to  Him 
in  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

Again,  our  Lord  warned  the  Jews  that  if  they  would 
not  accept  His  teaching  about  the  Bread  of  Heaven, 
they  would  remain  unprepared  for  the  yet  more  diffi- 
cult Mystery  of  His  Passion.  If  the  doctrine  of  the 
Sacrament  of  Love  "caused  them  to  stumble,"  because 
they  were  too  proud  to  receive  the  Life  from  God 
through  the  Nazarene,  how  could  they  believe  in  Him 
as  their  Messiah,  when  they  would  see  Him  "ascend  up 
where  He  was  before"  by  the  way  of  the  shameful 
Cross  (7/.  62)  ?  Even  so,  does  our  Lord,  by  Holy  Com- 
munion, prepare  us  for  coming  trials  of  our  faith. 

The  two  groups,  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  Twelve, 
stood  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  As  the  Apostles 
gained  a  glorious  new  vision  of  Jesus'  Holiness,  the 
Jews  "went  back  to  the  things  of  the  past,"  as  the 
Greek  means,  that  is,  from  faith  and  virtue,  so  far  as 
they  had  gained  them,  to  past  unbelief  and  sin.  There 
are  two  ways,  in  which  a  disciple  of  Christ  may  "gx) 


SAINT  JOHN  119 


to  the  rear" ;  one  is  to  retire  from  Satan's  dominion, 
and  fall  in  behind  Jesus,  as  St.  Peter  once  did  (St. 
Matt,  xvi:  23)  ;  and  the  other  is  to  go  back  from  fel- 
lowship with  Jesus  and  line  up  behind  Satan.  Then, 
let  us  never  lapse  from  union  with  our  Lord,  but  ever 
hold  fast  by  Him  in  the  Holy  Mysteries. 

^|)e  %\%\^^  Wiii^  after  (Kptpljanp*  Read  St.  John  rii 

W^z  &wt!)  ^untiap  ^fUt  (Kpipfianp 

C|)ri0t'0  Conbereion  of  i^its  SDtDn  {^oueet^oIH 

Otir  Lord's  brethren  were  His  collateral  relatives; 
those  whose  names  we  know  were  very  probably  His 
cousins.  The  ordinary  Catholic  opinion  is  that  three 
of  these  latter  were  the  Apostles,  SS.  James,  Jude  and 
Simon.  The  development  of  their  faith  in  Him  was 
indeed  very  slow.  At  one  time  they  seem  to  have 
thought  that  "He  was  beside  Himself"  (St.  Mark  iii: 
21).  Even  after  they  were  chosen  among  the  Twelve, 
they  had  for  long  the  conception  of  our  Saviour  that 
He  was  the  Messiah  of  the  rabbinic  tradition,  a  great 
temporal  ruler  who  would  "restore  again  the  kingdom 
to  Israel," — an  idea  which  persisted  among  the  Twelve 
until  the  Ascension  (Acts  i:6). 

Probably  it  was  St.  Jude  who,  in  our  passage  for 
study,  presumed  to  urge  our  Lord  to  leave  the  coun- 
try and  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  that  the  whole 
Jewish  world,  assembled  at  the  Feast,  might  see  His 
miracles  {yv.  3  f.).  For  it  was  Jude  who,  on  the 
night  before  the  Passion,  again  asked  our  Lord  why 
it  was  that  He  would  not  manifest  Himself  to  the 
world  (xiv:  22),  asserting  the  same  difficulty  as  on  the 
occasion  we  are  considering. 


120  SAINT  JOHN 


Both  times,  his  perplexity  arose  from  the  very  fact 
that  he  beheved  in  our  Lord's  Messianic  authority  and 
miraculous  powers.  Yet,  it  is  evident  that  he  and  his 
brethren  had  not  reached  the  spiritual  development 
of  many  other  disciples.  For  they  did  not  believe  ''into 
Him"  {y.  5).  It  was  easier  for  Him  to  convert  neigh- 
bors like  SS.  Philip  and  Peter  and  John,  than  members 
of  His  own  household.  It  is,  in  fact,  perhaps  the 
highest  proof  of  His  Deity  that  He  succeeded  in  con- 
vincing His  brethren  that  He  was,  not  only  good,  but 
God.  For  the  members  of  His  household  suffered 
from  the  same  blindness  which  afflicts  members  of  the 
Church,  very  often ;  they  were  so  familiar  with  Divine 
Things,  that  they  failed  to  appreciate  them. 


a^ontia^  ^ttet  tje  &iit6  feundap  jattet  (Kpipfian? 

As  our  gentle  Master  saw  that  the  assertion  of  His 
Divine  claims  was  offensive  to  the  Jews,  FEe  sought  to 
reduce  the  external  majesty  of  His  approach  to  Jeru- 
salem as  much  as  possible.  On  His  first  visit  to  the 
Holy  City  as  Messiah,  He  appeared  with  authority  to 
cleanse  the  temple,  and  wrought  great  "signs"  of  Di- 
vine power  (ii:  13-23).  When  He  returned  to  His 
Capital  the  second  time,  it  was  as  a  simple  pilgrim 
with  a  multitude  of  others  (v:  i).  But  on  this  third 
occasion  He  went  up  "unto  the  feast,  not  openly,  but 
as  it  were  in  secret,"  that  is,  apart  from  the  pilgrim- 
company,  alone,  like  a  solitary  stranger.  When  at  last, 
on  Palm  Sunday,  He  must  for  the  sake  of  His  people 
assert  His  Kingship,  he  yet  approached  the  City  witk 
everjr  mark  of  humility. 


SAINT  JOHN  \2\ 


Moreover,  He  adopted  a  new  method  of  appealing 
to  those  higher  classes  in  Jerusalem  who  were  His 
main  enemies.  He  had  come  to  them  once  as  Messiah, 
seeking  only  to  purify  His  people,  and  again  as  "the 
Son,"  claiming  the  privilege  of  laboring  for  them 
without  respite,  and  both  times  they  had  rejected  Him. 
Now  He  sought  to  appeal  to  them  as  a  man  of  letters, 
displaying  perfect  familiarity  with  the  culture  of  the 
day,  such  as  was  ordinarily  known  only  to  the  scholars 
of  the  rabbinic  colleges  {v.  15).  Perhaps  they  would 
accept  the  truth,  if  it  came  to  them  under  the  form 
of  brilliant  eloquence.  Therefore  He  stood  forth,  in 
the  temple,  as  a  Teacher. 

Yet  He  was  instant  in  turning  away  the  praise 
which  even  the  Jews  accorded  Him.  "My  teaching," 
He  answered,  ''is  not  Mine,  but  His  that  sent  Me,'" 
and  He  went  on  to  say  that  He  was  seeking  the  glory 
of  the  Father,  not  His  own  glory  {vv.  16,  18,  R.  V.), 
and  He  strove  to  show  the  Jews  that  this  hurnble  atti- 
tude, which  they  knew  very  well  was  characteristic  of 
Him,  was  one  of  His  credentials  as  the  true  Son  of 
God  {v.  18).  Thus,  in  this  third  way,  He  sought  to 
win  the  Jews  by  humility.  In  His  quest  of  our  souls, 
too,  He  uses  every  ingenious  art,  but  all  His  devices 
bear  the  one  hall-mark  of  His  Lowliness. 

'?Iue0tiap  mtn  tlie  &«t|i  &unliap 
Mitt  (Epip^an^ 

Our  Saviour  is  able  to  make  a  man  "every  whit 
whole"  {v.  23).  His  purpose  is  to  bring  our  entire 
nature  to  a  state  of  perfect  health,  and  He  accom- 
plishes this  through  the  sanctification  of  our  will.    We 


122  SAINT  JOHN 


can  hardly  emphasize  this  fact  too  strongly,  for  ouf 
mind,  our  spirit  and  even  our  body  will  be  consecrated, 
if  our  will  is  dedicated  to  our  Lord.  As  to  our  mind, 
He  has  told  us  in  no  uncertain  terms  that  he  who  *will- 
eth  to  do  God's  Will  shall  know  of  the  teaching, 
whether  it  be  of  God.'  By  every  righteous  choice, 
therefore,  by  every  obedience  to  the  moral  law  and  by 
every  deed  of  love,  we  open  our  intellect  to  illumina- 
tion from  Heaven.  "To  those  who  obey  Him,  whether 
they  be  wise  or  simple.  He  will  reveal  Himself  in  the 
toils,  the  conflicts,  the  sufferings  which  they  shall  pass 
through  in  His  fellowship,  and  as  an  ineffable  mystery 
they  shall  learn  in  their  own  experience  who  He  is." 

Our  spiritual  state,  also,  depends,  not  upon  our  emo- 
tional fervor  or  our  intellectual  attainments,  but  upon 
what  we  will  to  be  the  supreme  object  of  our  life. 
For  our  Lord  said  that  he  who  seeketh  His  glory  that 
sent  him,  "the  same  is  true,  and  no  unrighteousness  is 
in  him"  (v.  i8).  We  see  in  this  the  great  impor- 
tance of  each  morning  directing  our  intention  for  the 
works  of  the  day  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Our  resurrection  body  will  be  exactly  suited  to  the 
state  of  our  soul  at  the  last  Judgment  (v:  28  f.).  And 
our  soul  will  be  saved,  if  our  will,  its  determining 
faculty,  is  devoted  to  Jesus.  The  world  is  full  of 
pieces  of  people,  who  are  all  mind,  or  all  body.  Let 
us  give  our  wills  to  Jesus,  and  He  will  make  us  whol*. 

mthm^nav  sitter  tfie  feixtii  feuntiai? 
matter  (Kpipjan^ 

^l)e  €ric0  of  Jewa 

We  are  told,  in  the  Gospels,  of  four  times  when  our 
Lord  cried  out,  from  a  breaking  Heart,  pleading  witk 


SAINT  JOHN  123 


His  people.  Three  of  these  occasions  are  recorded  by 
St.  John,  two  of  them  in  the  chapter  before  us.  The 
first  time  He  was  thus  stirred,  it  was  because  there 
were  in  His  Presence  some  who  had  stopped  half-way 
in  their  knowledge  of  Him  {v.  28).  In  an  agony  of 
eager  love  for  their  souls,  He  sought  to  lead  them  on 
to  belief  in  His  Deity.  Again,  on  the  octave  day  of 
the  Feast,  He  stood  and  cried,  because  the  people 
around  Him  did  not  thirst  for  the  living  water  of 
grace  {v.  ^^7).  His  own  Soul  had  been  filled  to  over- 
flowing with  that  precious  life-principle  for  them,  by 
fasts,  prayers  and  deeds  of  love  since  His  Babyhood, 
and  now  they  were  famishing  around  Him  and  yet 
drawing  back  from  Him  in  ignorance  of  their  own 
need. 

The  third  occasion  was  immediately  before  the  Pas- 
sion. When  Christ  knew  that  there  were  before  Him 
disciples  who  believed,  but  secretly,  because  they  loved 
the  praise  of  men  more  than  the  praise  of  God,  He 
cried  out  to  them  and  besought  them  to  believe  'into 
Him'  (xii:  44). 

But  it  was  when  He  cried  the  last  time,  from  the 
Cross,  that  He  began  to  receive  the  responses  He  had 
so  longed  for  (St.  Matt,  xxvii:  50).  His  clear,  strong 
Voice  when  He  was  dying  proved  to  the  half-believing 
centurion  that  He  was  indeed  ''the  Son  of  God."  St. 
Nicodemus  who  had  refused  to  seek  from  Him  the 
living  water  in  Holy  Baptism,  came  forward  now,  and 
joined  the  faithful  at  His  Feet.  St.  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea  who  had  been  His  disciple,  "but  secretly  for 
f-ear  of  the  Jews,"  found  courage  at  last  to  go  openly 
and  beg  the  Body  of  His  Master.  Is  Jesus  crying  over 
us?  Let  us  satisfy  His  dear,  craving  Love,  by  ac- 
cepting the  truth,  the  sacrament,  or  the  stigma  of  fel- 
lowship with  Him,  to  which  He  is  calling  us. 


124  SAINT  JOHN 


'atSut^Dap  matter  t^e  ^\tx\  feundap 

^\)\\9!X  (Slorifieti 

Throughout  the  Fourth  Gospel,  our  Lord  refers  to 
His  Passion  in  the  terms  which  in  the  three  other 
Gospels  are  applied  to  the  Resurrection  and  Ascen- 
sion (cp.  vi:62).  Evidently,  St.  John  alone  caught 
from  Him  this  conception  of  His  Crucifixion,  as  par- 
ticipating in  the  glory  of  His  coming  Enthronement  in 
Heaven  (vii:39).  The  dereliction  and  agony  of  His 
Cross  were  in  Jesus'  Mind  transfigured  by  the  Divine 
splendor  of  His  Session  at  the  Right  Hand  of  the 
Father,  to  Which  His  Death  was  but  the  glorified 
Road  (xiii :  i).  And  surely  He  revealed  to  us  this  way 
of  thinking  about  His  own  Death-bed,  to  teach  us  that 
His  brethren  should  look  beyond  the  mortification  and 
suffering  of  physical  death  to  the  glory  that  awaits 
them,  and  should  regard  the  eternal  life,  given  to  them 
at  Baptism,  as  continuing  and  developing  without  any 
break  into  the  joy  and  triumph  of  immortality  (cp. 
vi:5of.;  viii:5i). 

But  in  considering  His  Passion  as  being  one  con- 
tinuous Act  with  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  our 
Lord  did  not  minimize  the  glory  which  belonged  pecu- 
liarly to  the  Sacrifice  of  Himself  on  the  Cross.  For  by 
that  perfect  Penance  for  all  the  blasphemies  of  human 
sin,  he  satisfied  the  wounded  Honor  of  God,  and  by 
that  supreme  Act  of  Obedience  He  made  to  the  Father 
an  Oflfering  of  infinite  value.  Rightly,  therefore,  did 
He  pray  that  His  Father  would  glorify  Him  in  His 
Passion,  that  He  might  thus,  by  His  Death,  glorify 
the  Father  (xvii:  i).  Let  us  resolve  that,  when  our 
time  comes,  we  will  ofifer  our  death  to  God  as  a  final< 


SAINT  JOHN  125 


penance  for  our  sins,  and  one  last  obedience  to  His 
Will. 

Our  Saviour  longed  for  His  glorification  in  Heaven, 
in  order  that  He  might  help  men  in  the  world.  For 
He  would  send  the  Holy  Spirit  to  teach  even  His  ob- 
stinate opponents  the  saving  truth  that  He  is  God,  and 
to  illuminate  the  minds  and  consecrate  the  hearts  of 
His  own  people  ( viii :  28 ;  xvi :  13 ;  vii :  38  f . ) .  Let  us, 
by  faithfulness  in  intercession,  be  practising  to  take 
our  part  in  this  Heavenly  work  of  Jesus. 


Mitt  €pip6an^ 

2Dur  Horn  X\}t  Smitten  Eoclt 

On  seven  days  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  it  was 
the  custom  to  bring  from  the  Pool  of  Siloam  a  golden 
pitcher  full  of  water,  which  was  poured  out  before  the 
altar.  But  on  the  octave  day,  the  pitcher  was  brought 
empty,  while  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Isaiah  was  being 
recited.  It  was  in  reference  to  this  ceremony  and  to 
the  words  on  their  lips :  'the  Lord  Jehovah  is  my  Sal- 
vation; therefore  with  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out 
of  the  Wells  of  Salvation,'  that  our  Lord  cried  out, 
"If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink." 
When  our  souls  are,  like  the  golden  pitcher,  empty, 
we  must  come  to  our  Lord  and  be  filled. 

This  ritual  of  the  golden  urn  was  meant  to  remind 
the  people  of  the  rock  which  followed  Israel  in  the 
Wilderness  and  from  which  the  saving  stream  flowed 
forth  to  the  famishing  multitude,  at  the  command  of 
Moses  (Num.  xx:7-ii;  i  Cor.  x:4).  Our  Saviour 
claimed  this  also  as  a  type  of  Himself.    Probably,  His 


124  SAINT  JOHN 


hearers  would  remember  also  that  the  rock  was  smit- 
ten, sinfully;  and  in  this  way  the  symbolism  would 
suggest  that  the  stream  of  life  flows  from  a  Messiah 
smitten  by  the  sin  of  His  people.  It  is  this  Crucified 
Saviour  Who  now  follows  the  Catholic  Church 
through  the  wilderness  of  the  world. 

If,  however,  we  receive  the  living  water  of  grace 
from  the  Soul  of  Jesus,  it  must  be  with  the  resolution 
to  render  Him  in  return  a  very  stream  of  loving  deeds. 
For  the  "drink"  He  gives  us,  He  demands  that  "riv- 
ers" shall  flow  out  of  our  heart  {yv.  37  f.).  But  to 
the  soul  which  thus  multiplies  the  grace  given  it  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  out  of  the  Smitten  Rock,  God  "giveth 
not  the  Spirit  by  measure"  (iii :  34).  The  only  limit  to 
the  Gift  of  the  Spirit  of  Grace  is  that  which  we  set, 
if  we  receive  Him  in  vain. 


iatter  (Epip6ftnp 

iDur  ILorti'0  %)\xttt%%  anD  2Dur0  for  {^im 

It  is  one  of  our  greatest  debts  of  gratitude  to  St. 
John,  that  we  learn  from  Him  what  we  might  not 
have  understood  from  the  other  Evangelists,  the  fact 
of  our  Lord's  success  in  converting  His  people.  By 
observing  how  often  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  it  appears 
that  "many"  believed  "on,"  or  "into,"  Him,  we  dis- 
cover that  the  number  of  His  converts  was  very  large 
and  was  constantly  growing  (e.g.  z^.  31 ;  viii:30; 
x:42).  Five  hundred  brethren  assembled  to  meet 
Him  in  Galilee  after  His  Resurrection  ( i  Cor.  xv :  6) . 
The  three  thousand  Jews  baptized  on  the  first  Pente- 
cost, were  very  probably  of  that  group  of  Christ's 


SAINTJOHN  W 


hearers  who  had  ''believed  Him"  but  who  had  never 
gone  on  to  complete  faith  (Acts  ii :  41 ;  St.  John  viii: 
31,  R.  V.)-  There  is,  also,  abundant  evidence  that 
the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  were  to  a  great  extent 
made  up  of  Christian  Jews.  Finally,  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel  was  written  for  that  Evangelist's  fellow-coun- 
trymen throughout  the  Universal  Church. 

This  success  was  gained  by  methods  which  seemed 
most  absurd  to  the  Jewish  rulers  of  church  and  state 
{v.  48).  Thus,  they  sneeringly  suggested  that  our 
Lord  might  go  unto  the  Dispersion,  the  Jews  scattered 
over  the  Roman  Empire,  and  from  their  colonies  go 
forth  to  teach  the  Gentiles  {v.  35).  Yet  this,  which 
seemed  to  the  Pharisees  "the  climax  of  irrationality," 
was  the  exact  plan  followed  by  the  Apostolic  Church 
with  such  remarkable  success  (cp.  Acts  xiii:  42  f.)- 

Our  service  for  our  Lord  will  often,  like  His  Min- 
istry, be  according  to  spiritual  business  methods  which 
do  not  commend  themselves  to  the  worldly  wise.  But 
we  shall  be  effective  for  Him,  none  the  less,  if  we  are 
neither  keeping  His  Life  out  of  our  souls  nor  selfishly 
seeking  to  keep  it  in,  for  Christ  working  through  us 
must  be  successful. 

ieptuagfgima  Witt%  Read  St.  John  viii 

&eptuap0fma 

tf  |)rij9t  Wiliiinii  on  t\it  dtonro 

As  we  begin  to  prepare  for  Lent,  we  arrive  at  a 
passage  in  which  our  Lord  indicates  the  sacredness  of 
the  whole  Moral  Law,  and  the  danger  of  postponing 
conversion.  For  we  read  that  He  "stooped  down,  and 
with  His  Finger  wrote  on  the  ground"  {w,  6,  8).  It 
would,  however,  be  more  literal  to  say  that  He  wrote 


128  SAINT  JOHN 


on  the  great  flagstones  which  formed  the  pavement 
of  the  Temple.  In  so  doing  He  probably  meant  to 
suggest  the  writing  of  the  Ten  Commandments  on  the 
two  tables  of  stone  by  the  Finger  of  God  (Ex. 
xxxi:  i8). 

Not  only  did  he  wish  to  impress  upon  the  Jews,  by 
this  symbolic  action,  the  sacredness  of  the  Decalogue 
as  a  whole,  but  he  meant  to  make  them  understand 
the  truth  that  one  commandment  is  as  holy,  and  as  in- 
violable, as  another.  In  fact,  pride,  although  it  does 
not  entail  loss  of  men's  esteem,  proved  to  be  more  fatal 
in  its  effect  upon  the  Pharisees,  than  was  the  breach 
of  the  seventh  commandment  upon  the  soul  of  Blessed 
Mary  Magdalene  (v:44;  St.  Luke  viii:2). 

One  other  lesson  our  Lord  gives  us  for  our  Sep- 
tuagesima  in  the  way  He  treated  the  accusers  of  the 
unhappy  woman  {y.  7).  For  when  He  had  said  to 
them,  "He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first 
cast  a  stone  at  her,"  they  stole  away  "one  by  one,  be- 
ginning at  the  eldest."  Evidently,  they  were  self- 
convicted  of  sin  great  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  their  years.  Let  them  be  an  example  to  us  that 
we  do  not  grow  good  by  growing  old,  but  rather  by 
those  continual  conversions  of  heart  for  which  the 
Church  provides  us  these  seasons  of  penitence  year  by 
year.  ^ 

lapontia^  attet  feeptuage^ima 

^|)e  Ili0|)t  of  t|)e  SilorlD 

A  beautiful  feature  of  the  ceremonies  during  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  the  lighting  of  the  vast 
lamps  which  hung  from  the  roof  of  the  woman's  court 
in  the  temple,  on  the  first  night  of  the  octave.    From 


SAINT  JOHN  129 


Mount  Moriah,  the  great  chandeliers  shed  their  ra- 
diance over  all  Jerusalem.  But  as  our  Lord  stood 
beneath  them  in  the  twilight  of  the  octave  day,  they 
remained  unlighted,  and  it  was  then  that  He  cried  out, 
"I  am  the  Light  of  the  world"  {y.  12).  Thus,  again 
we  find  Him  carrying  the  Gentiles  in  His  heart.  For 
He  declared  Himself  to  be  the  Illuminator,  not  of 
Jerusalem,  nor  of  that  people,  only,  but  of  all  human- 
kind. When  life  darkens  around  us  and  no  human 
cheer  will  serve  to  drive  away  the  gloom  from  our 
hearts,  let  us  go  directly  to  the  Light  of  the  World. 
The  sorrow  was  sent  to  drive  us  to  Him. 

There  was  in  His  words,  moreover,  a  reference  to 
the  pillar  of  fire  and  cloud  which  had  journeyed  with 
the  ancient  people  of  God  through  the  wilderness. 
Veiled  within  that  'luminous  cloud"  was  the  awful 
Presence  of  God,  and  by  teaching  the  Apostles  that  it 
.was  a  type  of  His  Incarnation,  Christ  identified  Him- 
self with  Jehovah,  and  thus  helped  the  Apostles  to 
realize  that  He  was  truly  Divine.  In  the  very  act  of 
declaring  Himself  the  Light  of  the  World,  He  was 
illuminating  His  own. 

Now,  God  has  ordained  a  lamp  for  His  Christ 
CPs.  cxxxii:  17).  Within  everyone  of  us  baptized 
Christians  blazes  the  Dayspring  of  this  world.  He 
would  fain  shine  through  our  lives,  giving  comfort  to 
the  afflicted  and  sorrowful,  and  persuading  men  of  His 
Deity.  Shall  we  not  begin  now,  even  before  Lent,  to 
cleanse  the  globe  of  His  lamp? 


10 


130  SAINT  JOHN 


<ZILuf0tia^  matter  &eptuage0tma 

W^z  dupremr  dBcampIe 

Our  Lord  spoke  these  sad  words  to  the  Jews :  "Ye 
are  from  beneath,  I  am  from  above;  ye  are  of  this 
world,  I  am  not  of  this  world."  They  belonged  to  the 
lower,  fleshly,  sensual  order,  while  He  was  from  above, 
and  was  the  center  of  that  which  is  Heavenly  and 
eternal.  The  difference  between  their  natures  was  in- 
finitely great;  and,  from  the  perfect  contrast  between 
them,  we  can  see  with  extraordinary  clearness  that  the 
circumstances  of  earthly  life  give  scope  for  the  em- 
bodiment of  two  characters  absolutely  opposed.  Be  our 
part  and  lot  on  Jesus'  side  of  that  impassable  gulf! 

His  perfect  charity  was  allied  with  two  other  vir- 
tues, absolute  fearlessness  and  invincible  meekness, 
which  are  found  combined  among  men  only  in  His 
followers.  His  courage,  which  will  appear  more  and 
more  the  nearer  we  approach  His  Passion,  is  exempli- 
fied in  our  present  chapter  by  His  choosing,  for  His 
instructions  in  the  Temple,  the  treasury,  because  this 
was  in  the  court  of  the  women,  close  by  the  assembly 
room  of  the  Sanhedrin.  Even  after  they  had  set  a 
price  upon  His  Head,  He  continued  to  stand  there 
calmly,  within  easy  striking  distance  of  them,  no  doubt 
hoping  that  some  word  of  love  might  pierce  their  hard 
hearts  and  save  them. 

His  meekness,  also,  appears  from  His  reaction  upon 
the  stupidity  and  insults  of  the  Jews.  Thus,  after  He 
had  again  and  again  said  that  He  had  come  from  the 
Father,  they  misunderstood  Him  {y.  27).  Apparently, 
they  thought  that  He  was  speaking  of  coming  from 
another  Messiah,  who  was  the  one  they  wanted.  And 
when  He  warned  them  that  they  would  die  in  their 


SAINT  JOHN  131 


sins,  and  be  forever  separated  from  Him,  they,  with 
fearful  blasphemy,  retorted  that  He  must  be  intending 
to  commit  suicide,  and  be  lost  in  Hell  {yv.  21  f.). 
Yet,  according  to  the  correct  text,  He  went  on,  after 
repeatedly  pleading  with  them  in  other  ways,  to  beg 
them  to  serve  the  Father  according  to  their  own  light, 
if  they  would  not  accept  the  revelation  in  Him,  hop- 
ing that  thus  they  might  be  led  on  to  faith.  *'Do  ye 
the  things  which  ye  heard  from  the  Father,"  He  urged 
{v.  38,  R.  V.  Marg.).  Is  it  wonderful  that  such  per- 
fect patience  won  all  but  the  most  wicked  hearts? 

l^racttce  of  ti)e  Ipreornce  of  <8oti 

Our  Saviour  could  always  safely  challenge  even  the 
Jews  who  hated  Him  to  point  out  the  slightest  defect 
in  His  righteousness.  But  He  longed  to  develop  their 
admission  of  His  perfection  into  a  confession  of  His 
union  with  God.  Accordingly,  He  said  to  them,  "He 
that  sent  Me  is  with  Me ;  the  Father  hath  not  left  Me 
alone,  for  I  do  always  those  things  that  please  Him" 
{v.  29).  In  this  way  He  tried  to  make  them  reason 
that  His  absolute  faultlessness  must  be  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  Father  was  with  Him.  'The  perfect  coinci- 
dence of  the  will  of  the  Son  with  the  will  of  the 
Father  is  presented  as  the  effect,  and  not  as  the  reason 
of  the  Father's  presence."  But  if  the  righteousness  of 
Jesus'  Human  Soul  was  due  to  His  fellowship  with 
the  Father,  how  much  more  truly  must  we  abide  with 
God  if  we  would  be  holy!  Moreover,  St.  John  de- 
mands that  Christians  do  "those  things  that  please" 
God,  as  our  Lx)rd  always  did.    For  he  uses  the  Greek 


132  SAINT  JOHN 


word  with  this  meaning,  which  is  found  only  in  his 
writings  in  the  New  Testament,  just  once  more  and 
then  to  require  of  us  the  same  perfect  service  (i  St. 
John  iii:  22). 

Yet,  in  the  context  before  us,  our  Lord  says  that 
'whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the  bondservant  of  sin' 
(y.  34).  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  also  declare  that  the 
sinner  is  the  slave  of  the  evil  thing  which  masters  him 
(Rom.  vi:  16;  2  St.  Peter  ii:  19).  What  one  of  us, 
then,  is  free  to  serve  God,  especially  if  we  must  meas- 
ure up  to  the  standard  of  God's  "well-beloved  Son"  ? 

We  must  let  the  Son  abide  always  in  our  houses,  and 
He  will  set  us  free  {yv.  35  f.).  In  His  Presence  temp- 
tations cannot  assail  us,  nor  sins  defile.  He  will  make 
us  **free  indeed"  for  fellowship  in  His  service. 

er^rwt'ja  liDuwuit  of  iSouIjs 
In  order  to  suggest  His  Deity  in  a  way  which  would 
be  the  most  appealing  and  attractive  to  the  Jews,  our 
Lord,  when  He  would  speak  of  Himself  as  having 
absolute  Being,  frequently  used  the  words  "I  am," 
which  in  Aramaic  would  suggest  "J^^o^ah"  (cp.  w. 
24,  28,  58).  His  meaning  was  that  in  Him  was  per- 
fect light,  life  and  strength.  He  united  in  Himself  all 
finite  and  all  infinite  Being.  As  a  further  claim  upon 
their  devotion,  He  revealed  Himself  as  the  Mediator 
between  earth  and  Heaven,  saying,  "The  things  which 
I  heard  from  the  Father,  these  speak  I  into  the  world" 
(7^  26.  R.  V.  Marg.).  In  one  way,  He  was,  as  it  were, 
standing  outside  our  universe,  proclaiming  the  good 
tidines  which  came  to  Him  from  the  Father,  ''into  the 
world,"  that  is,  unto  its  uttermost  parts. 


SAINT  JOHN  133 


But,  while  He  was  God,  He  took  His  place  with  the 
lowliest  of  mankind.  *'Ye  seek  to  kill  Me,"  He  pleaded 
with  the  Jews,  ''a  Man  that  hath  told  you  the  truth/' 
Here  He  uses  the  humblest  possible  word  for  His 
Humanity,  for  the  Greek  noun  translated  "man"  means 
a  common  person  or  peasant,  as  distinguished  from  a 
gentleman.  One  marvels  that  any  soul  could  resist  the 
appeal  of  this  God  Who  stooped  so  low  to  shoulder  the 
burden  of  human  life  and  human  sin. 

It  is  His  invincible  hopefulness  about  human  souls, 
however,  which  most  claims  our  adoring  love.  The 
Jews  had  just  vented  their  anger  upon  Him  by  calling 
Him  a  Samaritan,  and  accusing  Him  of  having  a  de- 
mon. Moreover,  it  appears  by  the  form  of  the  verbs 
that  these  insults  were  current  and  habitual  ones.  But 
our  Lord  only  answered  them  by  a  yet  more  gracious 
offer  of  love.  Now  He  promises  that  if  they  will  keep 
His  Word  they  shall  never  see  death  (^.  5^ ;  cp.  *z^-  30- 
Let  us  then  learn  from  our  Lord's  persistent  appeals, 
even  to  His  blasphemers,  that  no  soul  in  the  state  of 
probation  is  beyond  hope. 


JFtitiap  matter  ferptuagt^fma 

Keeping  fioH'js  ailorU 

Our  dear  Lord  promises  us  a  very  great  and  precious 
immunity,  if  only  we  will  keep  His  Word.  On  this  sole 
condition,  that  we  obey  the  Gospel,  we  shall  never  'be- 
hold death'  {v.  51).  He  did  not  say  that  Christians 
should  never  ''taste  of  death,"  as  the  Jews  falsely 
quoted  Him  {v.  52).  The  faithful  must  drink  of  His 
Cup ;  but  He  has  already  "tasted  death  for  every  man^ 
and  so  has  emptied  the  chalice  of  all  its  bitterness.    To 


134  SAINT  JOHN 


"behold  death"  means  to  gaze  upon  it  "with  long, 
steady,  exhaustive  vision,  whereby  we  become  slowly 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  [it]."  This,  which  is 
the  portion  of  the  damned,  shall  never  enter  into  the 
experience  of  Christ's  faithful  servants. 

Moreover,  in  requiring  us  to  keep  His  Word,  our 
Lord  demanded  no  greater  proof  of  loyalty  to  Him 
than  He  had  abundantly  given  of  faithfulness  to  His 
Father.  "I  know  Him  and  keep  His  word,"  He  could 
say  without  fear  of  being  contradicted  even  by  His 
enemies  {v.  55;  cp.  xv:  10).  He  knows  the  sufferings 
and  temptations  which  beset  obedience  to  God,  and  He 
will  not  fail  His  brethren  either  in  sympathy  or  in 
powerful  aid. 

Keeping  the  word  of  our  Lord,  however,  implies 
much  more  than  static  faith  and  holiness.  Jesus  said 
to  His  enemies,  "Ye  seek  to  kill  Me,  because  My  word 
maketh  no  progress  in  you"  {v.  37,  literally  translated). 
The  Gospel  must  have  free  course  in  our  soul.  \i  we 
^ould  set  an  obstacle  to  its  progress,  we  would  cast  it 
out  of  our  life  and  with  it  crucify  Jesus  Christ  over 
again  to  ourselves. 

&aturtia^  jattet  ^eptuapgfima 

tETl^e  fipmpati)?  anH  {^elp  of  i\}Z  Saints 

"Your  father  Abraham  exulted  that  he  would  see 
My  day,"  our  Lord  solemnly  declared  to  the  Jews, 
"and  the  time  came,  that  He  saw  it  and  was  glad"  {v, 
56,  literally  translated).  Two  epoch-making  events  of 
tJie  great  patriarch's  life  in  this  world  and  after  death 
are  thus  revealed  to  us :  one,  the  great  occasion  when 
Jehovah  promised  him  that  he  should  see  His  Incama- 


SAINT  JOHN  135 


tion,  and  the  other,  the  first  Christmas  Day,  when  he 
actually  "saw"  the  Divine  Baby  in  the  Manger.  In 
some  mansion  of  his  Heavenly  Father's  House,  the 
vision  of  his  Saviour's  Birth  came  to  him  bringing  its 
unspeakable  joy.  Almost  all  great  authorities  agree 
that  this  is  the  meaning  of  Christ's  words.  We  are 
assured,  therefore,  that  the  blessed  Saints  are  allowed 
to  know  what  is  passing  in  the  Church  on  earth.  We 
have  additional  evidence  in  the  fact  that,  at  the  Trans- 
figuration of  Jesus,  Moses  and  Elijah  spoke  with  Him 
"of  His  decease  which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jeru- 
salem" (St.  Luke  ix:  31).  They  had  been  informed  of 
the  events  of  His  Life,  and  knew  that  He  was  ap- 
proaching His  Passion,  so  that  His  dear  Human  Heart 
had  cried  out  for  their  intelligent  and  loving  fellow- 
ship. 

Surely,  we  poor  pilgrim  brethren  of  Christ  also  need 
the  tender  sympathy  of  His  Saints.  We  ought  to  imi- 
tate their  holy  lives,  and  seek  the  aid  of  their  prayers, 
certain  that  our  Lord  makes  known  our  need  to  them 
and  inspires  their  intercessions.  If  it  be  true,  as  the 
physicists  say,  that  two  atoms  on  the  opposite  sides  of 
the  universe  attract  each  other,  how  much  more  must 
two  souls  in  the  Communion  of  Saints  be  drawn  to- 
gether by  the  magnetic  power  of  that  Divine  Love 
which  dwells  in  both  of  them ! 

St.  John  alone  remembered  this  saying  of  Christ 
that  Abraham  had  seen  His  Nativity.  The  aged, 
broken  Apostle,  the  last  of  the  Twelve,  breasting  alone 
the  torrent  of  Imperial  persecution  which  threatened 
to  annihilate  the  Church,  found  courage  and  gladness 
in  the  fellowship  of  his  brethren,  the  Saints  of  both  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  Gospel. 


136  SAINT  JOHN 


^ewBCBima  l^eeft  Read  St.  John  ix 

&££ao:e0tma 

<Soti  t|)e  S^ure  Set  of  Hotoe 

Immediately  after  He  had  been  all  but  crushed  un- 
der the  stones  which  the  Jews  in  the  Temple  would 
have  cast  at  Him  had  He  not  escaped,  our  Lord  pro- 
ceeded to  a  work  of  love.  As  He  passed  by  the  en- 
trance of  the  Temple,  on  His  way  out  from  the  sacred 
precincts,  *'He  saw  a  man  which  was  blind  from  his 
birth."  At  once  He  determined  to  cure  the  unfortu- 
nate, and  through  him  to  seek  once  more  the  conver- 
sion of  the  very  people  who  would  have  murdered  Him 
a  few  moments  before.  The  "sign"  would  be  widely 
known,  for  probably  it  was  notorious  all  over  Jerusa- 
lem that  this  beggar  had  borne  his  affliction  all  his  life ; 
moreover,  none  of  the  Old  Testament  Saints  had 
wrought  the  miracle  of  restoring  sight ;  and  the  proof 
of  His  Messianic  power  would  be  still  more  convinc- 
ing, because  this  blindness  was  congenital  {y.  32). 

But  our  Lord  leads  us  to  see  even  more  in  His  sign. 
For  He  declared  to  the  Apostles  that  His  act  of  love 
in  healing  the  sightless  eyes  was  but  a  manifestation 
of  the  works  of  God.  His  words  reveal,  as  by  a  flash 
of  light,  the  vast  machinery  of  Divine  Providence  ever 
working  out  blessings  for  us  behind  the  appearance  of 
things.  God  is  the  perfect,  infinite.  Act  of  Love,  and 
the  Life  of  Jesus  only  showed  openly  to  us  what  is, 
from  eternity  to  eternity,  the  very  Nature  of  God. 

Our  Master  mildly  rebuked  the  Apostles  for  asking 
whether  the  beggar's  condition  was  due  to  his  sin  or 
to  that  of  his  parents.  We  are  not  to  waste  time  over 
intellectual  queries  and  speculations  about  the  origin 


SAINT  JOHN  137 


of  evil,  but  to  cooperate  with  God  in  remedying  it, 
that  His  works  may  be  manifest  to  the  world  more 
and  more.  » 

^Ijc  Dibine  ILatos  of  dcrbice 

"We  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Me, 
while  it  is  day,"  Jesus  said  to  His  Apostles  {v.  4, 
R.  v.).  Thus  He  included  all  His  Christian  brethren 
in  His  great  labor  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  And 
this  cooperation  with  our  Master  is  to  continue 
throughout  the  "day"  of  life,  until  the  eventide  of  rest 
with  Him. 

If  we  are  to  be  partners  with  our  Saviour,  in  His 
work  for  souls,  we  must  practice  His  rules  of  service. 
First,  He  would  never  seek  to  be  original  in  His  teach- 
ing; every  word  was  ascribed  to  His  Father  (vii:  16). 
Yet,  His  effectiveness  was  unparalleled.  Even  the 
police  of  the  Sanhedrin  failed  in  their  mission  to  arrest 
Him,  because  'never  man  spake  like  Him'  (vii  146). 
Again,  He  was  so  careful  to  maintain  the  true  claims 
of  God's  ancient  Church,  that  He  was  what  many  now 
would  call  narrow.  Plainly,  if  most  lovingly,  He  told 
the  Samaritan  woman  that  she  was  both  a  schismatic 
and  a  heretic  (iv:22).  But  the  boundless  breadth  of 
His  charity,  in  His  Ministry  and  on  the  Cross,  includ- 
ed all  mankind.  Finally,  He  went  straight  forward,  in 
the  path  of  His  vocation,  to  utter  failure.  Yet  who 
doubts  that  His  crucified  Life  was  man's  one  perfect 
success?  For  it  has  done  more  to  regenerate  mankind 
than  all  the  greatest  statesmen,  scientists  and  philoso- 
phers have  been  able  to  accomplish  since  the  world 
began. 


138  SAINT  JOHN 


It  is  profoundly  impressive,  moreover,  that  He  con- 
stantly trained  His  disciples  in  these  paradoxes  of 
efficiency.  We  find  Him,  for  example,  requiring  the 
Twelve,  immediately  after  their  return  from  their  ex- 
traordinarily successful  preaching  mission,  to  sweep 
together  the  crumbs  left  from  the  repast  of  the  five 
thousand,  searching  everywhere  in  the  twilight  that 
nothing  should  be  lost,  and  then  storing  away  the 
broken  food  for  their  own  nourishment.  He  was  pre- 
paring them  for  a  still  more  successful  ministry.  We 
must  not  be  surprised  then,  if,  in  our  vocation,  our 
Master  leads  us  to  effectiveness  by  ways  which  are 
quite  opposite  to  our  natural  inclination  and  judgment. 

'2tue0liap  after  fee^Eaffe^ima 

<Soti  ^antfejsteH  as  iLiQ^t 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  Light  of  every  age,  every  genera- 
tion, every  person.  "Whensoever  I  am  in  the  world,  I 
am  the  Light  of  the  World,"  He  said,  as  we  may  trans- 
late His  words  literally.  Even  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  the  night  of  utter  darkness  and  unbridled  sin 
seemed  to  have  settled  down  over  all  Europe,  the  faith 
of  the  Church  was  perhaps  more  wonderful  than  at 
any  time  since  the  day  of  the  Apostles.  Those  who  sat 
in  darkness  saw  the  Great  Light. 

Immediately  after  our  Lord  spoke  the  words  we 
have  quoted.  He  healed  the  blind  man,  indicating  that 
it  is  His  purpose  to  illuminate,  not  merely  humankind 
en  masse,  but  every  individual  soul.  We  notice,  how- 
ever, that  His  method  of  working  the  cure  was,  first, 
to  lay  the  poultice  of  clay  and  spittle  upon  the  sightless 
eyes  so  as  to  seal  them.    Thus  He  seemed  to  be  rather 


SAINT  JOHN  139 


destroying,  than  restoring,  the  beggar's  vision.  How 
often  perplexity  precedes  enlightenment  with  us!  In- 
deed, it  is  almost  our  Lord's  normal  way  to  leave  the 
soul  for  a  time  in  intellectual  darkness,  before  He 
grants  such  a  vision  of  truth  as  it  has  never  before 
received. 

The  blind  man  was  required  to  go  and  bathe  in  the 
Pool  of  Siloam,  in  order  to  be  cured,  and  it  must  have 
required  faith  for  him  to  fulfill  this  condition.  Now, 
St.  John  tells  us,  in  a  significant  parenthesis,  that 
Siloam  means  "sent."  He  intends  to  indicate  that  the 
pool  was  a  type  of  Jesus,  and  to  remind  us  that  He  was 
the  One  sent  from  Heaven.  The  remedy  for  our  blind 
souls  is  to  bathe  in  His  Precious  Blood,  by  penitence, 
and  in  His  truth,  by  obtaining  instruction  from  the 
writings  and  pastors  of  His  Church.  Then  shall  we 
come  to  behold  Jesus  with  such  new  clearness,  that  it 
will  seem  as  if  we  have  always  before,  from  our  birth, 
been  blind  to  Him.  . 

C|)ri)8ttanitp  IReagonafale 

We  must  realize  fully  that  our  Lord's  system  of 
teaching  the  Faith  was  absolutely  reasonable,  in  the 
sense  that  He  so  adapted  His  instruction  as  to  appeal 
to  every  kind  of  human  conscience  and  heart.  There 
is  a  remarkable  example  of  His  method,  in  this  re- 
gard, in  the  way  He  began  leading  the  blind  beggar 
into  the  full  acceptance  of  Him.  For  He  used  the 
clay  and  spittle  because  both  were  believed,  by  the 
Jews,  and  the  Romans  also,  to  be  medicinal.  Thus, 
He  began  on  the  poor  soul's  level,  with  a  popular  pre- 
scription in  which  he  reposed  confidence,  in  order  to 


140  SAINT  JOHN 


make  this  the  first  rung  in  the  ladder  of  his  conver- 
sion. 

So  perfectly  convincing  was  our  Saviour,  in  fact, 
that  the  problem  with  the  Apostles  was  how  anyone 
could  doubt  the  faith  He  taught.  Thus,  St.  John  feels 
compelled  to  explain  why  any  of  the  Jews  rejected  the 
evidence  of  His  miracles:  Their  hardness  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  he  says ;  they 
could  not  believe  because  God  had  blinded  their  eyes 
(xii:  38-41).  Indeed,  in  his  jealous  desire  to  show 
that  after  all  they  could  not  defeat  the  Divine  Will, 
he  leaves  out  of  view  for  the  moment  the  fact  that 
they  had  first  of  all  wilfully  blinded  themselves  to  His 
Truth.  It  is  often  a  question  to  us  as  it  was  to  them, 
that  so  many  reject  the  reasonable  religion  of  the 
Church,  and  their  unquestioning  faith  in  the  midst  of 
pagan  millions  should  be  a  great  comfort  to  us. 

**Bishop,"  said  Carlyle  to  Wilberforce,  ''have  you  a 
creed?"  ''Yes,"  said  the  bishop,  "I  have  a  creed  and 
the  older  I  grow,  the  firmer  it  becomes.  There  is  only 
one  thing  that  staggers  me.  It  is  the  slow  progress  the 
creed  seems  to  make  in  the  world."  "Ah,"  answered 
Carlyle,  after  a  pause,  slowly  and  seriously,  "but  if 
you  have  a  creed  you  can  afford  to  wait."  Surely  he 
was  right.  The  eternal  years  of  God  belong  to  the 
Divinely  reasonable  truth  of  our  religion. 

SacreH  6|3emoriei3 

Opened  eyes  had  greatly  changed  the  face  of  the 
blind  man,  as  St.  Austin  long  ago  remarked.  Even 
those  to  whom  his  features  were  perfectly  familiar 


SAINT  JOHN  141 


were  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  was  the  same  man  they 
had  known  {yv.  8f.).  There  was  fresh  hope  shining 
in  his  eyes,  and  his  expression  had  changed  wonder- 
fully with  his  first  outlook  upon  the  beauty  of  God's 
world.  He  was  a  new  creature ;  old  things  had  passed 
away.  How  perfectly  he  symbolizes  a  soul  which  has 
just  come  forth  from  its  first  mission,  or  absolution,  or 
communion ! 

It  was  what  our  Lord  had  so  lovingly  done  for  him 
which  gave  him  the  courage  to  face  the  Sanhedrin. 
Poor  beggar  that  he  was,  he  stood  firmly  loyal  to  Jesus 
against  all  the  great  princes  of  his  nation  and  church, 
even  when  faithfulness  to  his  Saviour  meant  excom- 
munication. He  had  but  just  gained  the  world,  and 
now  he  gave  it  up  forever  through  becoming  a  disci- 
ple of  Jesus.  Excommunication  meant,  indeed,  that 
no  one  would  come  within  arm's  length  of  him,  or  give 
him  shelter  or  food.  Let  us  treasure  our  sacred  mem- 
ories, that  we  may  be  loyal  to  our  Redeemer  against 
all  the  temptations  of  the  unbelieving  world. 

Observe  his  rapid  progress  in  faith,  because  he  had 
made  a  sacrifice  for  his  religion.  At  first  he  knew  our 
Lord  only  as  ''a  man  called  Jesus,"  but  almost  at  once 
he  saw  in  Him  *'a  prophet,"  and  then  "a  man  of  God." 
Finally,  he  reached  the  glorious  climax  of  faith  by 
believing  "into"  the  Son  of  Man,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  adored  Him  as  Divine.  Thus  it  is  that  by  often 
dwelling  upon  God's  past  mercies  to  us,  we  gain 
courage  to  make  sacrifices  for  our  religion,  and  so 
"grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 


142  SAINT  JOHN 


®|je  IFoIIp  of  Canfaelicf 

The  Pharisees  knew  well  how  they  should  "give 
glory  to  God"  {y.  24).  **The  phrase  assumes  that  the 
glory  of  God  is  always  promoted  by  manifestation  of 
the  truth."  Thus  it  would  be  to  His  praise,  if  they 
confessed  that  they  had  been  in  error  and  sin,  and 
turned  from  their  stubborn  unbelief.  None  knew  bet- 
ter than  they  that  this  was  the  ancient  meaning  of  their 
exhortation  to  the  man  who  had  been  blind  (cp.  Josh. 
vii:i9).  Yet  the  only  use  they  made  of  it  was  to 
tempt  the  poor  beggar  to  repudiate  his  Lord  as  "a 
sinner."  They  transmitted  the  light  of  God's  Word; 
but  they  were  like  lenses  of  ice,  which  concentrate  the 
sun's  rays  upon  tinder  so  as  to  kindle  it,  while  they 
remain  unmelted. 

The  folly  of  their  unbelief  appears,  moreover,  from 
their  confession  that  they  knew  not  from  whence  Jesus 
had  come.  This  was  the  most  vital  of  questions  to 
them,  as  to  all  men,  and  our  Lord  had  striven  to  prove 
to  them  the  truth  of  His  claim  that  He  had  come  from 
Heaven.  Yet,  with  all  their  learning,  they  were  still 
ignorant  of  His  Divine  Origin.  But  the  poor  beggar, 
whose  congenital  blindness,  they  said,  showed  that  he 
had  been  born  in  sin  and  lay  under  God's  curse,  knew 
that  the  One  Who  had  opened  his  eyes  must  be  from 
God  {v.  33). 

The  cardinal  error  of  these  Jewish  leaders,  however, 
was  that  they  were  absolutely  satisfied  with  their 
knowledge  of  Divine  revelation,  when  in  fact  they 
had  stopped  half  way  to  the  truth  and  were  stub- 
bornly refusing  to  go  further  {yv.  40  f.).  They  said 
"We  see,"  meaning  that  they  had  caught  from  the  Old 


SAINT  JOHN  143 


Testament  a  certain  vision  of  the  Messiah,  in  which 
He  was  to  be  a  great  human  conqueror,  and  the  mon- 
arch of  Israel.  They  would  have  none  of  the  "Mighty 
God,"  who  was  to  be  also  the  Suffering  Servant,  in 
those  same  inspired  prophecies  (Isa.  ix:6;  liii).  Con- 
sequently, they  would  not  accept  their  Saviour  when 
He  came,  and  'their  sin  remained.'  Are  we  content- 
ing ourselves  with  a  partial  knowledge  of  our  Bible 
and  Prayer  Book?  Let  us  humbly  confess  to  Jesus 
our  blindness  and  beseech  Him  to  open  our  eyes  to 
all  the  glories  of  His  truth. 


^atutnap  matter  ^ejcase^ima 

a  Stone  EejfCteU  anH  dljogen 

In  casting  out  him  to  whom  Christ  had  given  sight, 
the  Jews  heaped  upon  his  personality  every  mark  of 
scorn.  Thou  wast  altogether  born  in  sins,'  they 
taunted  him,  'and  dost  thow,  the  beggar,  marked  out 
from  birth  as  an  evil  thing, — dost  thou  teach  us?'  But 
when  Jesus  had  found  him  He  said  unto  him,  'Dost 
thou,  thou  the  infinitely  precious  soul,  whom  I  love 
with  unique,  individual.  Personal  devotion, — dost  thou 
cast  thyself  with  complete  trust  upon  the  Son  of  Man'? 
{v.  35,  A.  V.  Marg.).  Both  addressed  him  by  the 
emphatic  personal  pronoun,  bringing  out  his  individ- 
uality in  high  relief,  the  Pharisees  to  stress  his  utter 
unworthiness,  and  our  Lord  to  suggest  his  incalcula- 
ble value  to  the  God  of  Love. 

As  a  sign  of  how  greatly  He  prized  the  poor  beg- 
gar, our  Lord  sought  him  out  in  order  to  cornplete  in 
him  that  "work  of  God"  which  is  faith  (Ti:29).    As 


144  SAINT  JOHN 


before  He  had  opened  the  eyes  of  his  body,  so  now  He 
opened  the  eyes  of  his  soul. 

All  about  them  were  the  great  stones  which  were 
meant  for  the  temple.  But  at  Jesus'  feet  lay  a  stone 
chosen  for  the  eternal  walls  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
With  the  poor  beggar,  excommunicated  by  the  Jews 
and  now  prostrate  before  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Saviour 
of  humankind,  *'Who  gathers  up  in  Himself,  Who 
bears  and  Who  transfigures  all  that  is  common  to 
man,"  the  new  Universal  Society,  in  which  ''there  is 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek,"  was  begun.  How  priceless  to 
Jesus,  then,  may  be  any  obscure  soul  if  only  it  has  cast 
itself  upon  Him  in  entire  self-surrender ! 

jpor  t|)f  ilSine  Dape  JFoIIotninc*  Read  St.  John  x 

£)uinquaffe0ima 

Wot  <SoolJ  iSl)ep|)erU 

St.  John  is  unique  among  the  Evangelists  in  that  he 
has  not  recorded  any  of  Christ's  parables.  He  alone, 
however,  has  preserved  for  us  three  priceless  alle- 
gories. The  parables  were  not  so  much  to  his  pur- 
pose, because  they  are  concerned  with  the  more  funda- 
mental teachings  of  Christianity,  and  he  wrote  for  a 
Church  which  was  familiar  with  these.  The  allegories, 
on  the  other  hand,  express  the  great  cardinal  principle 
of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  the  Personal  relation  of  the 
Saviour  to  every  individual  member  of  the  Divine  So- 
ciety. And  the  very  occasion  of  this  most  precious 
allegory  on  the  Good  Shepherd  and  His  flock  illus- 
trates admirably  that  very  conception  of  Christ's 
boundless  care  for  everyone  of  His  Own  which  the 
discourse    itself   was   meant  to   teach.    For  He   was 


SAINT  JOHN  145 


stirred  to  the  wonderful  eloquence  and  ineffable  ten- 
derness it  manifests,  by  no  greater  cause  than  the  re- 
ception into  His  little  group  of  disciples  of  one  ex- 
communicated mendicant. 

The  false  shepherds  were  the  Pharisees.  They  had 
for  years  passed  this  poor  sheep  by  at  the  temple  gate, 
yet  no  one  of  them  had  deigned  to  know  him ;  but  here 
was  the  Good  Shepherd,  Who  knows  each  sheep  by 
name.  They  had  "slammed  the  door  of  blessing"  in 
His  face ;  Jesus  said  to  him,  *7  am  the  Door." 

He  admitted  this  newly-found  sheep  into  such  un- 
speakably close  intimacy  with  Himself,  that  it  could 
only  be  compared  to  that  which  exists  in  perfection 
between  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  the  Blessed  Trinity 
{yv.  14  f.,  A.  V.  Marg.).  Does  it  not  make  Lent  in- 
deed a  ''dear  feast,"  that  we  are  to  spend  it  with  this 
King  of  Love  Who  is  our  Shepherd? 

In  the  first  part  of  this  allegory  {w.  1-9),  our  Lord 
is  the  Door  of  the  Sheepfold,  the  Porter  is  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  shepherds  are  the  priests  of  the  Church, 
and  the  sheep  are  the  laypeople.  The  true  pastor, 
Christ  warns  us,  is  he  who  enters  through  the  low 
Door,  that  is,  who  imitates  the  humility  and  the  will- 
ingness to  receive  all  who  come  which  he  sees  mani- 
fested in  lowly  Jesus.  The  false  shepherds,  in  their 
pride,  climbed  up  some  other  way,  which  was  impos- 
sible for  the  poor  sheep ;  they  sought  to  be  saved 
through  their  knowledge  of  the  Law  and  membership 
in   their    Pharisaic   caste.    If    ever    they   went   down 


146  SAINT  JOHN 


among  the  flock,  the  common  people  whom  they  de- 
spised (vii:49),  it  was  only  to  rob,  or  even  destroy 
them  {v.  i).  Unhappily,  it  is  only  too  easy  for  the 
true  Christian  Shepherd  to  turn  false,  like  these  Jews, 
and  seek  'to  climb  up'  by  way  of  a  cold  intellectualism 
or  a  perfunctory  professionalism,  whereupon  he  be- 
comes a  ''thief  and  a  robber,"  who  filches,  or  else 
snatches  away,  the  Gospel  blessings  from  his  flock. 

Now  Jesus  looked  to  the  sheep  to  help  him  keep 
the  true  Standard  before  their  pastor's  eyes.  It  is  their 
Door  through  which  he  should  enter  the  Fold.  They 
exemplify  a  discipline,  lowliness  and  love,  which  he 
must  have  in  order  to  be  true. 

In  these  ways  especially  He  asks  them  to  maintain 
that  character  of  His  sheep  which  will  stimulate  the 
rector  to  be  their  shepherd:  (i)  Let  them  'flee  from 
the  voice  of  strangers,'  by  which  the  Good  Shepherd 
means  not  only  heretics  and  impostors,  but  all  who 
have  not  His  commission  given  at  ordination  {w.  5, 
8).  (2)  They  must  let  their  pastor  guide  them  "by 
name,"  individually,  in  separate  training,  not  simply  as 
a  flock  folded  on  the  Sabbath.  (3)  If  they  are  sick  or 
wounded,  they  must  come  to  him  for  the  healing  sac- 
raments. (4)  They  must  continually  follow  him  to  the 
good  pasture,  vvhere  flourishes  the  Plant  of  Renown, 
beside  the  River  of  God  (Ezek.  xxxiv:  29;  Ps.  Ixv:  9). 
If  the  sheep  make  themselves  thus  the  shepherd's  own, 
he  will  not  readilv  become  "a  hireling"  {yv.  12  f.). 

Wtft  Viit  of  t^e  JFoIH 
There  are  three  fundamental  and  all-important  needs 
of  the  Christian :   he  must  be  admitted  to  the  state  of 


SAINT  JOHN  147 


salvation,  granted  spiritual  liberty,  and  provided  with 
the  means  of  growth.  All  of  these  are  assured  to  the 
flock  in  Jesus'  Fold,  holy  Church.  "I  am  the  Door/' 
were  His  words  of  boundless  comfort ;  **by  Me  if  any 
man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved,"  which  secures  our 
spiritual  safety,  "and  shall  go  in  and  out"  with  perfect 
freedom,  ''and  shall  find  pasture,"  the  Food  of  eternal 
life  iy.  ^').  The  Christian  thus  "exercises  the  sum  of 
all  his  powers,  claiming  his  share  in  the  inheritance  of 
the  world,  secure  in  his  home.  And  while  he  does  so 
he  finds  pasture.  He  is  able  to  convert  to  the  divinest 
uses  all  of  the  comforts  of  the  earth." 

Our  Lord  evidently  has  in  view  the  flock  already 
gathered  around  him  {w.  8,  14,  2y').  And  He  said 
about  that  tiny  nucleus  of  the  Catholic  Church  an  al- 
most incredible  thing:  'That  which  My  Father  hath 
given  unto  Me  is  greater  than  all"  {v.  29,  R.  V. 
Marg.).  The  little  flock  of  the  faithful  was  stronger 
than  all  the  opposing  powers  in  earth  and  Hell,  because 
they  were  in  the  Hand  of  God  {v.  28  f.). 

Their  Fold  was  impregnable  because  Christ  was  the 
Door.  We  may  understand  better  what  this  means  to 
the  Church,  from  a  saying  of  a  Palestinian  shepherd. 
A  traveller  remarked  that  his  fold  seemed  to  be  strong- 
ly built,  but  its  entrance  was  wide  open.  "Where  is 
the  door?"  asked  the  visitor.  "/  am  the  door,"  an- 
swered the  shepherd.  He  meant  that  when  he  had 
safely  enclosed  his  flock,  he  stretched  his  own  body 
across  the  opening.  So  it  is  that  our  salvation,  free- 
dom, and  means  of  grace  are  absolutely  secured  to  tis, 
because  our  Saviour  ever  sleeplessly  guards  His  Fold 
with  His  Life. 


148  SAINT  JOHN 


Sl&e  €^f)ief  anU  t{)e  (Sooti  !St)epi)erti 

In  the  second  half  of  the  allegory  {yu.  10-29), 
Christ  is  the  Good  Shepherd,  rather  than  the  door, 
and  those  opposed  to  Him  are  the  devil  and  his  agents, 
represented  collectively  as  ''the  thief."  The  latter 
*'cometh  not,  but  for  to  steal  and  to  kill  and  to  de- 
stroy." Not  only  does  he  wickedly  take  away  what 
belongs  to  another's  soul, .  but  slays  that  other,  and 
utterly  spoils  the  means  of  recovering  spiritual  life. 
The  smooth  assailant  of  our  religion,  for  example, 
seeks  to  steal  the  Christian's  faith,  kill  his  soul,  and 
destroy  his  belief  in  those  Catholic  verities  and  sacra- 
ments, through  which  his  life  might  be  regained. 

But  Christ  is  come  that  men  "may  have  life,  and 
may  have  abundance."  In  contrast  with  the  thief's 
stealing  is  Christ's  gift.  Where  the  thief  slays,  Christ 
bestows  life  on  those  He  finds  dead.  Against  the  thief's 
destruction  of  the  means  that  renew  life,  is  Christ's 
abundant  provision  for  quickening  the  twice-dead  soul 
through  the  pleading  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  sacra- 
ment of  Absolution. 

Perhaps  there  is  nowadays  no  more  subtle  enemy  of 
the  life  of  Christ's  flock,  than  Buddhism.  We  do  well, 
therefore,  to  see  clearly  that  behind  the  veil  of  attrac- 
tive Oriental  mysticism  is  a  religion  of  despair,  death 
and  annihilation.  Christ  came  to  take  death  away,  but 
Buddha  would  take  life  away.  To  the  Buddhist  the 
direst  foe  of  man,  which  shall  finally  be  annihilated  in 
Nirvana,  is  life ;  to  the  Christian,  *'the  last  enemy  that 
shall  be  destroyed  is  death."  How  blessed,  then,  is 
this  Season  of  Grace,  when  for  forty  days  we  shall  be 


SAINT  JOHN  149 


receiving  more  and  more  of  the  ''abundance"  which 
the  Good  Shepherd  so  eagerly  waits  to  give  us ! 

use  ifirot  ttSucfiftiap  in  Hent 

E|)e  attractibenesja  of  l\,z  <gooti  !Sl)fpl)erti 

The  Greek  word  for  "Good"  in  our  Lord's  most 
winning  title,  indicates  that  He  is  not  only  the  True 
Shepherd,  in  whom  is  fulfilled  the  very  ideal  of  the 
shepherd ;  nor  is  He  simply  Good  inwardly.  In  addi- 
tion to  both  of  these  attributes,  ''He  has  an  attractive 
loveliness  which  claims  the  admiration  of  all  that  is 
generous  in  man."  Indeed,  this  revelation  of  Himself 
as  the  Good  Shepherd  so  appealed  to  the  people  that 
the  Jews  trembled.  "Why  hear  ye  Him"  ?  they  pleaded 
{v.  20). 

There  are  two  ways,  particularly,  in  which  Jesus  is 
"Good"  in  this  peculiar  sense  of  the  word.  First,  He 
has  paid  down  the  price  of  His  own  Life  for  the  sheep 
(z^.  15).  Or  in  the  phraseology  of  St.  Paul,  they  are 
"the  Church  of  God,  which  He  purchased  with  His- 
own  Blood"  (Acts  xx:28).  Surely,  the  very  great- 
ness of  our  natural  self-love  ought  to  increase  the  ap- 
peal to  our  hearts  of  this  Divine  Shepherd  Who  gave 
the  infinite  ransom  of  the  Life  of  God  for  us  who  were 
His  enemies.  And  in  fact,  he  had  us,  as  Gentiles, 
especially  in  mind,  in  our  Scythian  ancestors,  the  most 
savage  and  wicked  of  those  "other  sheep,"  whom,  even 
then,  by  anticipation,  He  claimed  as  His  own.  By  one 
Act  (of  His  Passion),  as  the  Greek  indicates.  He 
would  "lead"  us  into  the  "one  flock"  over  which  He  is 
the  "one  Shepherd"  {v.  16,  R.  V.  Marg.). 

Secondly,  the  dear  Lord  draws  us  to  Himself  by 


150  SAINT  JOHN 


both  knowing  us,  and  letting  us  know  Him,  in  a  way 
so  direct  and  loving  that  it  is  comparable  even  to  the 
perfect  Oneness  of  His  Mind  with  that  of  His  Father. 
This  is  the  great  central  revelation  of  the  allegory.  It 
should  teach  us  often  to  put  away  all  created  things 
from  between  ourselves  and  our  Saviour's  Godhead, 
so  that  we  contemplate  His  very  Essence  as  infinite 
Love  for  us,  and  then  to  love  Him  in  response,  with 
all  the  devotion  we  can  command. 

%\z  iFir)3t  JFcitiap  in  Eent 

Wc)t  S©i)33ion  of  t^e  i&cfaentp 

It  was  directly  after  our  Lord  had  spoken  of  His 
"other  sheep,"  it  seems,  that  He  sent  forth  the  Seventy 
Disciples  to  begin  finding  them,  (St.  Luke  x:i-2i). 
They  were  not,  like  the  Twelve,  forbidden  to  seek  out 
Samaritans  and  Gentiles  (cp.  St.  Matt.  x:5ff.).  In- 
deed the  very  symbolism  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 
after  which  they  started  on  their  mission,  taken  in 
connection  with  their  number,  suggests  that  they  were 
the  first  missionaries  to  the  world  outside  Israel.  For, 
during  the  octave,  seventy  bullocks  were  sacrificed  for 
the  "nations  of  the  world,"  the  traditional  number  of 
which  was  seventy.  And  our  Lord  Himself,  probably 
at  this  time,  departed  with  the  Twelve  into  Peraea, 
where  for  the  next  three  months  He  ministered  to  the 
Gentiles  (St.  Luke  xi-xviii :  30) .  We  can  see,  there- 
fore, how  eagerly  Jesus  longed  to  seek  out  His  "other 
sheep,"  even  during  the  time  of  His  Mission  to  the 
"lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel"  (St.  Matt,  xv :  24). 

Moreover,  His  seventy  missionaries  must  go  forth 
endued  with  His  own  love  for  the  sheep.    As  He  was 


SAINT  JOHN  151 


a  Pillar  of  Fire  and  Cloud  to  lead  the  whole  world  to 
the  Promised  Land,  so  must  they  be,  as  His  represen- 
tatives (viii:  12).  If  He  had  said,  '7  am  the  Light  of 
the  World,"  He  had  as  certainly  said,  of  His  disciples, 
''Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world"  (St.  Matt,  v:  14). 
He  was  the  Smitten  Rock  out  of  Which  springs  the 
living  water ;  from  their  hearts  as  well  must  the  blessed 
stream  flow  out  in  rivers  (vii :  37  f.).  And,  as  He  was 
the  Lamb  Who  would  give  His  Life  to  save  the  flock, 
so  He  sent  them  forth  as  "lambs  among  wolves,"  to 
die,  if  need  be,  for  the  lost  sheep. 

Thus  the  Seventy  were  "other  Christs,"  Yet  we 
have  not  the  name  of  one  of  them  recorded  in  the 
Bible.  Blessed  obscurity!  They  were  all  written  in 
Heaven  (St.  Luke  x:2o).  The  names  of  the  Twelve 
are  several  times  given  in  the  New  Testament,  but 
one  of  them  will  never  be  inscribed  in  the  Book  of 
Life.  Let  us  then  love  our  obscure  mission  to  Jesus' 
"other  sheep"  as  the  very  highroad  to  Heaven,  and 
consecrate  ourselves  more  perfectly  for  it. 


U6e  JFir0t  ^atuttia^  m  Eent 

^|)c  (Soot  SljepljerU  See&ina  tbf  ^oats 

It  was  at  a  time  of  hope,  that  our  Lord  returned  to 
Jerusalem.  The  Festival  of  the  Dedication  commem- 
orated the  re-consecration  of  the  temple,  by  Judas 
Maccabseus,  after  its  profanation  by  Antiochus.  The 
hymn  for  the  octave  gives  thanks  to  God  for  this  and 
many  other  great  deliverances,  and  craves  yet  one 
more.  It  was  to  answer  this  prayer  that  our  Lord 
again  offered  Himself  to  His  people.  He  appeared 
walking  up  and  down  in  Solomon's  porch,  on,  or  near, 


152  SAINT  JOHN 


His  Birthday.  The  Jews  surrounded  Him,  hoping  by 
their  eager  question  to  make  Him  avow  Himself  the 
Messiah  of  their  national  and  religious  aspirations. 
There  are  many  like  them,  in  all  ages,  who  would 
willingly  accept  a  Saviour  after  their  own  hearts,  but 
cannot  believe  in  the  crucified  God-Man.  Patiently  and 
lovingly,  our  Lord  began  again  with  them  at  the  foot 
of  His  ladder  of  faith,  pointing  to  the  mercy  and 
power  displayed  by  His  miracles  {y.  25).  But  He 
must  lead  them  on  to  the  goal  of  faith  speedily  now, 
for  His  time  was  very  short;  therefore  He  quickly 
revealed  the  supreme  truth  of  His  Oneness  in  Essence 
with  His  Father  {v.  30).  Their  only  response  was  to 
lift  up  great  stones,  probably  some  of  those  intended 
for  the  completion  of  the  temple,  in  order  to  crush 
Him  {v.  31,  as  literally  translated). 

Their  justification  for  thus  rejecting  the  truth  of 
His  Deity  was  that  Jesus  was  a  man  and  therefore  He 
could  not  be  God  {v.  33).  They  assumed  that  there 
was  an  absolute  repugnance  between  the  Divine  and 
the  human  which  would  prevent  their  union  in  one 
Person.  Accordingly,  Christ  appealed  to  their  Scrip- 
tures, and  adduced  the  fact  that  the  theocratic  magis- 
trates of  Israel  were  called  "gods"  because  of  their 
moral  union  with  Jehovah.  We  can  see  how  true  this 
answer  was  from  the  fact  that  the  "Word  of  God'' 
came  even  to  wicked  Caiaphas,  simply  by  virtue  of  his 
high-priesthood  (xi:  49-52).  H,  then,  our  Lord  rea- 
soned with  the  Jews,  their  judges,  being  evil  men  often, 
were  thus  closely  affiliated  with  God,  surely  there 
could  be  no  such  antipathy  between  Deity  and  man- 
hood as  would  make  His  claim  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
impossible. 


SAINT  JOHN  153 


How  gently  then  He  began  all  over  again,  appealing 
to  the  primary  proof  of  His  claims  afforded  by  His 
works  of  love!  {v.  37).  Even  they  were  softened,  so 
that  when  He  again  declared  the  truth  of  His  God- 
head {v.  38),  they  laid  down  their  stones  and  contented 
themselves  with  attempting  to  arrest  Him.  We  can 
see,  therefore,  that  He  by  no  means  confined  His  love 
to  the  sheep.  As  some  of  the  pictures  in  the  catacombs 
show  Him,  He  was  laboring  to  carry  home  the  goats 
also,  on  His  Shoulders.       , 

W(st  JFir0t  ^untiap  iv.  lent 

Cljrigt'ja  Ketura  to  tJie  ^iltirrnrsg 

St.  John  gives  us  a  very  touching  suggestion  about 
our  Lord's  sorrows,  when  He  tells  us  that,  after  His 
escape  from  the  Jews,  He  "went  away  again  beyond 
Jordan  into  the  place  where  John  at  first  baptized, 
and  there  He  abode"  for  three  months.  For  it  would 
seem  that  He  was  accustomed  to  go  into  retreat  there, 
when  the  dear  Human  Heart  needed  to  be  Divinely 
comforted  and  refreshed.  We  are  not  told  of  any 
previous  visits  to  that  sacred  spot,  but  our  saintly 
Guide  indicates  that  they  occurred  from  time  to  time. 

It  was  there  that  He  had  received  His  Baptism. 
The  Holy  Spirit  had  come  down  as  a  Dove  bringing 
superabundant  grace  and  power  for  His  Ministry,  and 
had  abode  in  His  Soul.  The  Father  had  proclaimed 
from  Heaven  His  infinite  love  for  His  Son  in  Whom 
even  His  Omniscience  found  naught  but  perfection 
(St.  Matt.  iii:i6f.).  Not  far  away  was  the  Mount 
of  Temptation  where  He  had  triumphantly  overcome 
Satan  during  the  First  Lent.  There  He  would  spend 
the  forty  days  immediately  before  His  Passion,  pre- 


154  SAINT  JOHN 


paring  His  Human  Soul  to  pass  through  that  awful 
furnace  of  affliction  with  Filial  trust,  meekness  and 
love  (xi:54). 

Thus,  our  Lord  did  not  scorn  to  seek  an  environ- 
ment full  of  sacred  associations,  in  order  that,  by  mem- 
ories of  the  tender  Providence  and  help  of  the  Father 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  His  human  Nature  might  be 
strengthened  for  its  Immolation  upon  the  Cross.  How 
much  more  do  we  need  to  return  to  God's  past  deliv- 
erances and  mercies,  when  we  are  facing  anxiety  and 
trouble!  Let  us  store  our  memory  with  the  answers 
to  our  prayers  we  have  observed,  the  Divine  comfort 
granted  us  in  previous  suffering,  and  every  other  reve- 
lation to  us  of  God's  infinite  tenderness. 


aponnap  matter  tjt  JFit0t  ^untiap  in  Eent 

3[e0U0  /i5ot  Slot|)fuI  in  Businegjs 

One  might  have  thought  that  even  Christ  would  have 
been  too  discouraged  by  the  failure  of  His  latest  effort 
to  convert  the  Jews  to  enter  immediately  upon  another 
campaign  to  gain  souls.  There  was  something  very 
depressing  in  the  stupidity,  as  well  as  in  the  hardness, 
of  their  unbelief.  They  had  tried  to  murder  Him  with 
small  stones,  and  He  hid  Himself  and  escaped  them. 
On  the  next  occasion,  therefore,  when  they  would  slay 
Him,  they  laboriously  lifted  up  blocks  of  granite  to 
cast  at  Him,  evidently  thinking  that  they  would  be 
successful  this  time  because  of  the  very  bigness  of 
the  stones ! 

Moreover,  when  He  stood  there  by  the  Jordan,  at 
the  scene  of  His  baptism,  a  proscribed  exile  from  His 
own  capital,  it  must  have  seemed  to  natural  reason  that 


SAINT  JOHN  155 


His  Ministry  had  moved  in  a  circle  and  come  to  an 
end  where  it  began.  But  our  Great  Exemplar  re- 
garded not  the  opinion  of  man;  He  considered  only 
the  approval  of  His  Father. 

His  determination  to  save  souls  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  His  opportunities  was  invincible.  He  took  up  His 
abode  at  Bethabara,  not  only  that  He  might  be  strength- 
ened to  go  forward  in  His  vocation,  but  also  because 
this  was  the  most  advantageous  position  for  gathering 
the  results  of  the  Mission  of  the  Seventy  and  of  His 
own  recent  preaching  in  Peraea.  It  is  a  joy  to  read 
that  He  was  successful  in  this  campaign  of  His  most 
generous  charity;  for  *'many  resorted  unto  Him,"  and 
*many  believed  into  Him  there.'  Shall  we,  then,  ever 
permit  discouragement?  Our  Saviour  proves  to  us 
that  when  we  seem  to  be  complete  failures  in  our  labor 
for  souls,  we  are  in  fact  about  to  achieve  some  great 
success,  if  only  we  continue  faithfully  accepting  the 
opportunities  God  sends  us. 

JFor  tftc  ipibe  Dapjs  ipoIIotoinSf  Read  St.  John  xi :  1-52 

^ut0iiap  matter  x^z  jFir^t  ^unna^  in  Eent 

Wc}z  IPurpojse  in  buffering 

The  Apostle  of  Love  would  have  us  appreciate  the 
blessedness  of  affliction.  He  has,  therefore,  selected 
for  us  the  death  of  St.  Lazarus  and  the  grief  of  his 
holy  sisters,  because  these  three  were  the  object  of 
Jesus'  special  love.  When  the  messenger  came  to  an- 
nounce the  illness  of  the  young  man,  our  Lord  knew 
that  he  was  already  dead.  His  revelation  of  the  three- 
fold purpose  of  suffering  is  on  this  account  the  more 
solemn  and  impressive:    This  sickness,'  He  declared, 


156  SAINT  JOHN 


*is  not  unto  death,  but  in  behalf  of  the  glory  of  God, 
that  the  Son  of  God  may  be  glorified  thereby.'  It  was 
not  unto  death,  as  its  final  end,  but  unto  life  eternal; 
it  was  a  sacrifice  of  his  will  which  Lazarus  was  given 
the  opportunity  of  making  for  the  sake  of  his  love  for 
his  Heavenly  Father;  and,  finally,  it  was  to  become 
the  occasion  of  a  new  revelation  of  Christ's  power  and 
love,  leading  on  to  His  glorious  Passion.  It  requires 
little  consideration  to  see  that  all  our  suffering  is 
meant  to  have  this  same  triple  result,  of  good  to  our 
own  soul,  the  increase  of  our  Father's  glory,  and  a 
meed  of  greater  praise  to  our  Redeemer  for  the  pa- 
tience and  love  which  men  see  that  He  has  wrought  in 
us  through  the  Sacrament  of  Pain. 

This  is  one  of  the  three  places  in  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
according  to  the  correct  text,  where  our  Lord  refers 
to  Himself  as  the  Son  of  God  (cp.  v:  25  ;  x:  36).  On 
the  peculiarly  solemn  occasions  when  He  preferred 
this  title  of  His  Divinity  to  "Son  of  Man,"  He  in- 
tended to  bring  prominently  before  us  the  Deity  of  His 
Person.  Accordingly,  here  He  would  suggest  to  us 
the  unspeakably  comforting  truth  that  He,  Incarnate 
God,  has  gone  before  us  to  glory  by  the  way  of  the 
Cross. 

Yet,  while  He  has  converted  physical  evil  into  a 
blessing  for  us,  it  was  none  of  His  making.  He 
groaned  in  Divine  indignation  at  the  havoc  which 
death  and  grief,  the  fruit  of  human  sin,  had  wrought 
in  His  fair  world  {v.  33,  R.  V.  Marg.).  And  He 
''troubled  Himself  over  the  affliction  of  His  friends ; 
that  is.  He  deliberately  assumed  their  pain,  and  made 
it  His  own.  Our  troubles,  too,  He  takes  uDon  His 
dear  Heart  in  Heaven.  In  all  our  afflictions  He  is  af- 
flicted (Isa.  Ixiii :  9). 


SAINT  JOHN  157 


Qfllftine0liap  ^iizt  X\t  Jfir0t  fe)unDap  in  Eent 

CHnanotDcreH  lOraper  for  Reliff 

Jesus  loves  us  with  that  same  devotion  which  He 
had  for  St.  Lazarus  and  his  holy  sisters.  The  messen- 
ger attributed  to  Him  a  kind  of  love  which  is  based 
upon  special  friendship;  but  St.  John  substitutes  for 
his  word  that  which  means  the  universal  Charity  con- 
stituting the  very  Essence  of  God  (cp.  vv.  3,  5,  in  the 
original).  Now,  He  let  the  grieving  sisters  wait  until 
the  fourth  day  after  their  brother's  death,  in  order  to 
intervene  at  the  very  best  time  for  them ;  for  the  de- 
parted spirit  was  thought  to  linger  near  the  body  for 
three  days,  and  therefore  the  miracle  by  which  He 
would  recall  it  would  be  less  helpful  to  their  faith  dur- 
ing that  time.  We  can  understand,  then,  that  He  has 
some  loving  purpose,  when  He  delays  His  answer  to 
our  prayer. 

But  often  it  happens  that  our  dear  one,  whose  life 
we  begged  for  so  pitifully,  dies.  Let  us  claim  for  our- 
selves at  such  times  the  great  consolation  that  the  de- 
parted one  is  still  the  dear  friend  of  our  Saviour  and 
His  Saints  {v.  11).  Jesus  will  ''go  unto  him,"  for  he 
is  just  as  truly  now  as  he  was  on  earth  "in  a  real  per- 
sonal relationship"  to  his  Redeemer  {w.  11,  15).  How 
that  dear  Heart  longs  to  call  His  sheep  by  name,  as  He 
called  "Lazarus"  {v.  43),  and  summon  him  from  the 
"Waiting  Church"  into  the  ineffable  light  of  His  Pres- 


ence 


We,  who  are  left  on  earth,  must  cooperate  with  Him 
by  our  prayers  and  Eucharists  for  the  faithful  de- 
parted. The  Jews  could  not  believe  that  His  love  was 
consistent  with  His  allowing  the  death  of  St.  Lazarus, 
and  their  doubt  made  Him  groan  again  {yv.  36  ff.)  ; 


158  SAINT  JOHN 


He  did  not  need  to  trouble  Himself,  this  time.  But, 
in  fact,  it  is  said  that  the  young  man,  after  he  was 
brought  back  to  earth,  never  smiled  again,  so  great 
had  been  his  happiness  in  knowing  that  he  was  saved 
at  last  from  the  tyranny  of  sin.  Let  us  then  lose  no 
time  in  repining,  but  seek  to  consummate  the  happi- 
ness of  our  beloved  dead,  in  Jesus'  Presence. 

^Sttt!3tiap  mttt  tSe  JFtot  &unnap  m  ilent 

©fcrcisins  iFait|)  OnUrr  affliction 

St.  Martha  is  a  wonderful  exponent  of  faith  in  the 
midst  of  trouble.  While  her  brother  lay  ill,  and  evi- 
dently drawing  toward  his  end,  she  and  St.  Mary 
kept  saying  to  each  other,  until  it  became  a  habit,  "If 
Jesus  were  here  our  brother  would  not  die"  (cp.  v.  21 
and  V.  32).  St.  Martha  set  herself  to  watch  for  His 
coming,  and  remained  at  her  post  until  her  brother's 
death;  and  then,  having  watched  while  hope  lasted, 
she  continued  after  it  seemed  to  have  flown  forever, 
and  was  rewarded  by  being  the  first  to  welcome  Jesus. 
Thus,  her  greeting  (v.  21)  is  not  a  complaint,  as  the 
Greek  shows,  but  assumes  that  His  continued  absence 
must  have  been  of  necessity,  and  that  He  can  even  yet 
obtain  from  His  Father  the  fulfilment  of  His  promise 
that  her  brother's  sickness  should  not  be  unto  death 
(w.  21  f.). 

She  teaches  us,  however,  that  Christian  doctrine, 
although  comforting  in  itself,  will  not  help  us  in  our 
affliction,  unless  we  have  made  it  our  own.  Jesus 
sought  to  console  her  by  the  thought  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion. But  while  she  believed  in  the  doctrine,  the  fact 
of  the  universal  awakening,  at  the  "last  day,"  when  all 


SAINT  JOHN  159 


human  interests  would  be  past,  did  not  have  for  her 
such  personal  and  individual  cheer  as  to  soothe  the 
pain  of  her  brother's  loss.  Then  He  made  the  Resur- 
rection of  personal  value  to  her  by  identifying  it  with 
Himself,  from  Whom  His  Own  receive  that  life  prin- 
ciple which  cannot  be  holden  of  death.  And  He  as- 
sured her  that  a  soul,  like  that  of  St.  Lazarus,  which 
had  believed  into  Him,  should  never  die  {w.  21-26). 

But  it  is  her  old,  assimilated,  well-tested  beliefs 
which  are  her  great  strength  in  her  sorrow.  "She  saith 
unto  Him,  Yea,  Lord;  I  hmje  believed  that  Thou  art 
the  Christ,"  foretold  in  the  Prophets,  "the  Son  of  God" 
Who  can  restore  the  lost  fellowship  of  man  with  His 
Creator,  "even  He  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  that  is, 
the  One  Who  is  the  Bridge  between  earth  and  Heaven 
{v.  27,  R.  v.).  Let  us  then  learn  the  truth  of  our 
religion  by  personal  experience,  before  we  subject  it  to 
the  stress  of  dire  need  in  affliction. 

affliction  3ntenDcli  to  3ncrm«e  iFaitl^ 

Our  Lord  had  for  His  ultimate  purpose,  in  the  rais- 
ing of  St.  Lazarus,  the  development  of  saving  faith. 
For  even  the  Apostles,  who  believed  "into  Him,"  must 
advance  or  deteriorate.  Faith  "becomes  and  is  not. 
He  who  is  a  Christian  is  no  Christian."  Therefore 
Christ  wrought  His  miracle  to  the  intent  that  they 
might  believe  {v.  15).  The  saintly  sisters  also  grew 
apace  in  their  faith  in  Him.  Before  St.  Martha  left 
Him,  to  call  St.  Mary,  "she  had  risen  above  private 
grief,"  because  she  had  responded  to  His  new  revela- 
tion {w.  25-28).    But,  besides  His  purpose  to  reveal 


160  SAINT  JOHN 


Himself  more  fully  to  these  dear  friends  of  His,  He 
had  determined  to  make  yet  another  effort  to  convert 
the  hostile  Jews,  many  of  whom  were  present.  For 
this  reason.  He  offered  His  thanksgiving  for  the 
miracle  before  it  was  wrought,  'that  the  Jews  might 
believe  that  the  Father  had  sent  Him'  (tjv.  41  f.)- 
Surely,  then,  our  Lord  wishes  us  always  to  meet  suffer- 
ing with  a  fresh  and  more  perfect  act  of  faith. 

Again,  those  who  come  to  help  us,  or  comfort  us,  in 
our  trouble,  must  find  our  Saviour  also  with  us.  It 
was  the  Jews  who  were  sympathizing  with  St.  Mary 
and  followed  her  to  her  meeting  with  Jesus,  who  saw 
His  great  "sign"  and  'believed  into  Him.'  This  was 
the  rich  reward  of  even  their  natural  compassion.  We 
must  not  send  our  friends  away  without  the  like 
precious  boon  of  increased  faith. 

For  if  we  examine  the  passages  in  which  our  Lord 
said,  "thy  faith  hath  saved  thee,"  we  find  "that  the 
word  'save'  reaches  through  the  whole  of  man's  nature 
to  every  part  of  it."  Faith,  under  affliction,  therefore, 
will  often  gain  for  us  even  physical  relief  (St.  Matt, 
ix :  22 ;  St.  Mark  x :  52)  ;  it  will  surely  make  our  suffer- 
ing a  penance  for  our  sins  and  so  bring  moral  healing 
(St.  Luke  vii :  50)  ;  and  it  will  infallibly  crown  our 
recovery  with  a  great  spiritual  gain   (St.  Luke  xvii: 

featutHa^  Sitttt  tfie  jfitg^t  feunHap  in  Jimt 

^l)e  I^ajajBton  ^l)roucI)out  3fwu0'  fiife 

Because  He  was  God  and  His  Human  Mind  was 
from  Childhood  illuminated  with  knowledge,  reflected 
from  His  Divine  Omniscience,  Jesus,  all  His  Life, 
foresaw  His  Cross.    Thus,  when  the  Apostles  would 


SAINT  JOHN  161 


have  persuaded  Him  not  to  visit  Bethany  for  the  rais- 
ing of  St.  Lazarus,  for  fear  the  Jews  would  stone  Him, 
He  answered  in  a  way  that  proves  His  perfect  famil- 
iarity with  every  horrid  detail  of  His  Passion  {yv.  7- 
10).  Before  Him,  He  said,  lay  the  full  twelve  hours 
of  His  day,  that  is,  the  interval  before  His  appointed 
time  to  die.  As  the  "sun  knoweth  his  going  down," 
and  no  man  can  hasten  his  setting,  so  the  Son  of 
Righteousness  must  run  His  course.  Then  would  come 
the  night  of  His  Passion,  when  the  black  darkness 
would  gather  about  His  Head  and  He  would  "stum- 
ble" over  the  gibbet  of  a  convict-slave.  In  that  hour, 
even  the  "light"  within  Him,  the  ineffable  consolation 
of  His  vision  of  the  Father,  would  be  quenched,  and 
midnight  would  reign  in  that  desolate  Heart.  All  this, 
let  us  remember.  He  had  known,  with  every  circum- 
stance of  His  last  Agony  in  Body,  Mind  and  Spirit, 
from  His  earliest  Boyhood. 

This  suffering  of  Christ  through  anticipation  was 
absolutely  unparalleled.  Men  dread  a  future  disaster, 
in  proportion  to  the  vividness  with  which  their  imag- 
ination brings  it  before  them,  and  to  the  degree  in 
which  they  fear  that  they  will  be  subject  to  it.  Now 
our  Lord  had  a  perfect  imagination,  like,  but  tran- 
scending, that  of  the  greatest  artists,  which  pictured  to 
Him  all  the  horrors  of  His  Passion,  with  relentless 
realism;  besides,  He  knew  that  He  would  become  ut- 
terly helpless  in  the  hands  of  His  deadly  foes.  Thus, 
tortured  by  both  the  mental  terrors  which  make  phys- 
ical cowards,  and  that  to  a  degree  which  is  impossible 
for  our  dimmed  faculties,  He  passed  through  a  very 
Hell  of  suffering  for  thirty  years  before  He  was  cru- 
cified. 


162  SAINT  JOHN 


"Now  is  my  Soul  troubled,"  He  once  said,  referring 
to  that  part  of  His  Spirit  in  which  was  "gathered  up 
the  fulness  of  present  human  life"  (xii:  27).  Yet  the 
keen  agony  manifested  at  that  moment  did  not  begin 
then;  for  literally  His  words  mean,  "My  Soul  has 
been  and  still  is  troubled."  That  pain  had  been  famil- 
iar to  Him  from  the  beginning.  How  can  we,  then,  in 
our  affliction,  doubt  God's  love  for  us,  when  we  con- 
sider the  Passion  of  Jesus'  whole  life,  and  remember 
that  He  was  the  Only-Begotten,  Whom  the  Father 
loved  infinitely?  , 

®|?c  ^econU  aaHecfe  in  ILent*  Read  St.  John  xxiii :  53 

%tt  ^econti  ^untiai^  in  JLtnt 

tH^e  JnfectiouiS  (JToursQe  of  3[^!3U0 

At  the  outset  of  his  record  of  the  first  Holy  Week, 
St.  John  sets  before  us  the  absolute  fearlessness  of 
Christ  and  the  way  it  was  communicated  to  those 
around  Him.  "Jesus  therefore,"  he  relates,  "six  days 
before  the  Passover,  came  to  Bethany,"  on  His  way  to 
Jerusalem.  His  significant  "therefore"  refers  to  our 
Lord's  knowledge  of  the  high  priests'  deadly  malice 
against  Him  (xi:  47-57).  He  was  proscribed,  with  a 
price  set  upon  His  Head,  and  a  strict  commandment 
of  the  Pharisees  laid  upon  all  the  Jews  to  spy  out  His 
place  of  retirement  and  inform  against  Him.  Which- 
ever way  He  turned.  He  set  the  serpents  hissing.  Yet 
with  full  consciousness  of  all  these  preparations  to  ap- 
prehend and  slay  Him,  He  was  calmly  walking  into  the 
very  arms  of  His  foes. 

The  people  of  Bethany  'therefore  made  Him  a  sup- 
per there,'  St.  John  continues.  This  second  "there- 
fore" means  that  the  villagers  acted  so  bravely,  in 


SAINT  JOHN  163 


view  of  Jesus'  inspiring  courage.  Although  they  must 
have  known  that  He  was  an  outlaw,  condemned  by 
their  spiritual  rulers,  they  were  emboldened  by  His 
fearlessness  to  show  Him  their  gratitude  for  the  in- 
effable blessings  He  had  brought  them.  The  family 
which  He  had  especially  loved  was  of  course  invited, 
but  the  very  mention  of  the  facts  that  St.  Lazarus  was 
a  guest  and  that  St.  Martha  served,  indicates  that  the 
feast  was  given  by  the  townspeople. 

"Mary,  therefore,  took  a  pound  of  ointment  of 
spikenard,  very  precious,  and  anointed  the  feet  of 
Jesus."  She  also  had  caught  the  blessed  infection  from 
His  brave  Heart.  She  apprehended  that  she  was 
anointing  Him  for  some  Divine  act  of  Self-sacrifice 
which  she  intuitively  perceived  was  imminent.  With  a 
real  share  of  His  own  heroism,  she  had  nerved  herself 
to  give  Him  up.  May  He  make  us,  His  ''little  ones," 
brave  to  share  His  Self-immolation! 

OPontiap  lattet  X\z  &econli  ^unHap  in  Xent 

W^t  JOenitent 

St.  Mary  Magdalen  was  dead  when  this  Gospel  was 
written.  St.  John  feels,  therefore,  that  he  may  iden- 
tify her  by  name  as  "the  woman"  who  anointed  our 
Saviour  for  His  Burial  and  received  from  Him  such 
extraordinary  praise  (cp.  St.  Matt.  xxvi:6-i3;  St. 
Mark  xiv:3-9).  But  also,  for  our  comfort,  he  dis- 
closes the  fact  that  she  was  "the  sinner"  who  had,  on 
a  previous  occasion,  bathed  our  Lord's  Feet  with  her 
spikenard  and  her  tears  (xi:2;  St.  Luke  vii:  36-50). 
Let  us  then  observe  how  consuming  was  the  love  of 
this  great  penitent.    God  had  poured  out  His  costliest 


164  SAINT  JOHN 


gifts  on  her  head;  she  would  at  least  pour  out  her 
most  precious  ointment  upon  His  Head  (St.  Matt. 
xxvi:7).  Not  content  with  this,  which  was  a  cour- 
tesy sometimes  offered  to  an  honored  guest,  she  then 
knelt  down  before  Him,  and  anointed  His  Feet  in 
token  of  extraordinary  reverence.  At  the  same  time, 
she  unloosened  her  hair  and  with  it  wiped  His  Feet, 
which,  especially  among  Orientals,  was  *'an  act  of  the 
most  complete  self-devotion."  Finally,  she  broke  the 
alabaster  cruse,  so  that  it  never  afterwards  should  be 
put  to  any  less  sacred  use  (St.  Mark  xiv:  3). 

She  was  unconscious  that  in  this  way  she  was  pro- 
viding for  the  last  honors  of  the  Most  Holy  Dead. 
Judas  in  his  avarice  was  equally  unconscious  that  he 
was  being  led  on  to  accomplish  Jesus'  Death.  Let  us 
learn  from  their  opposite  examples,  that  we  must  de- 
velop a  positive  habit  of  self-denial  and  of  prodigal 
love  for  Christ,  so  that  we  will  consecrate  that  sub- 
stratum of  our  characteristic  thoughts  and  volitions 
which  is  one  main  basis  of  our  more  conscious,  delib- 
erate activity  and  greatly  influences  it. 

Our  Saviour  put  the  highest  interpretation  upon  the 
act  of  the  dear  penitent.  He  said  that  it  was  worthy 
to  be  recorded  in  the  Gospel  together  with  His  Passion. 
Because  her  uncalculating  love  was  like  His,  the  break- 
ing of  the  alabaster  box  should  be  proclaimed  to  all 
the  Christian  world  side  by  side  with  the  rending  of 
His  Body;  and  the  pouring  out  of  the  precious  oint- 
ment should  be  associated  forever  with  the  effusion  of 
His  Precious  Blood.  What  other  friend  would  appre- 
ciate the  greatest  gift  as  Jesus  does  the  least  thing  we 
do  for  love  of  Him? 


SAINT  JOHN  165 


31egu0  anH  tl)f  I]?oor 

Our  Lx)rd  appears  to  have  expected  that  there  would 
always  be  poor  people,  as  long  as  the  world  lasts,  and 
he  enjoins  upon  us  to  regard  them  as  our  brethren, 
saying  that  we  are  to  'have  them  with  us.'  St.  Chry- 
sostom,  indeed,  understands  Him  to  have  meant  that 
His  dear  Feet  represent  to  us  the  poor,  and  that  He 
would  have  us  pour  out  upon  them  the  myrrh  of  Qiris- 
tian  kindness.  Perhaps  we  may  learn  the  truth  and 
beauty  of  this  thought  from  a  very  tiny,  humble  teach- 
er. It  was  a  wren  who  built  her  nest  in  the  metal 
foot-rest  of  the  crucifix  which  stands  in  the  center  of 
the  monastic  garden  at  Holy  Cross.  There  she  reared 
her  brood  in  all  safety,  being  assured  of  special  pro- 
tection and  kindness,  at  the  Feet  of  Jesus. 

Our  obligation  of  generosity  to  Christ's  ''least  breth- 
ren" is  reinforced  by  that  which  we  owe  to  our  own 
souls.  For  almsgiving  is  one  of  the  "three  notable 
duties"  of  a  Christian.  We  can  see  from  the  example 
of  Judas  how  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  perform  it  faith- 
fully. Our  Lord  intended  that  his  natural  disposition 
to  selfishness  should  be  corrected  by  the  almsgiving  of 
the  little  Band,  which  was  entrusted  to  him  (cp.  xiiii 

But  our  Saviour  seeks  to  impress  upon  us  that  the" 
Blessed  Eucharist,  in  which  He  comes  to  us,  has  a 
greater  claim  upon  us  than  the  poor.  "Me  ye  have  not 
always,"  He  said.  In  the  early  morning  of  each  day, 
He  sits  upon  His  humble  altar  throne  in  robes  of  hu- 
man food.  We  must  pour  out  our  devotion  upon  Him 
there,  nor  scruple  to  spend  upon  that  Holy  Service 
even  "three  hundred  pence,"  the  wages  of  a  man  for  a 


166  SAINT  JOHN 


year.    Then  we  can  go  forth  with  sympathy  and  love 
drawn  from  Him,  to  minister  to  His  poor. 


ffiHelineoiiap  rafter  t6e  feeconn  ^untia^  fn  Eent 

3[e)3U!9  t|)e  CtinQ  of  Jerael 

To  the  Last  of  the  Apostles,  our  Lord's  approach  to 
His  Capital  on  the  first  Palm  Sunday  was  an  episode 
related  rather  to  the  Christians  of  his  day  than  to  the 
Jews  who  had  crucified  his  Master.  The  very  poverty 
of  this  King  whose  war  horse  was  the  borrowed  ass's 
colt — He  had  humbly  promised  to  return  it  ''straight- 
way" (St.  Mark  xi:3,  R.  V.) — and  Whose  retinue 
was  the  despised  multitude,  made  Him  especially  suit- 
able to  be  the  Sovereign  Lord  of  the  lowly  Apostolic 
Church  (cp.  i  Cor.  i:  26).  The  ass,  moreover,  was  an 
"unclean"  animal,  according  to  the  Jewish  ceremonial 
law,  and  this  unbroken  colt  would  therefore  well  rep- 
resent the  Gentiles,  who  were  to  yield  their  undis- 
ciplined hearts  so  willingly  to  the  mastery  of  Jesus. 

It  was  remarkable,  also,  that  the  people  in  greeting- 
Christ  cried  out,  "Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  For  this  verse  from  Psalm 
cxviii  had  for  centuries  been  chanted  by  the  priests 
in  welcoming  the  worshippers  to  the  temple.  But  now 
the  laypeople  became  priests  according  to  the  ancient 
prophecy,  "Ye  shall  be  unto  Me  a  kingdom  of  priests,'" 
which  was  fulfilled  in  the  Catholic  Church  (Ex.  xix :  6; 
Rev.  v:  10;  i  St.  Pet.  ii:  5). 

But  we  feel  certain  that  St.  John,  writing  a  quarter 
of  a  century  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  is 
thinking  of  the  spiritual  Zion,  when  we  observe  that 
he  prefaces  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  with  two  words 


SAINT  JOHN  167 


of  encouragement  to  his  own  ''little  children."  ''Fear 
mot','  he  cries  to  them,  as  they  stand  facing  the  vast 
relentless  cruelty  of  the  Empire,  **fear  not.  Daughter 
of  Zion !  Behold,  thy  King  cometh !"  Down  the  ages 
of  Christian  history  that  lowly  Monarch  rides,  for  He 
is  the  universal  Saviour  of  every  generation  and  every 
land.  May  God  speed  the  day  when  our  King  shall 
come  to  His  own  in  America! 

'arfiut^nap  rafter  x\z  ^econti  feunnap  in  liznx 

Srue  iSelf-ilobe 

It  was  one  of  the  strangest  of  the  paradoxes  upon 
which  our  Lord  insisted,  as  all  four  Evangelists  bear 
witness,  that  true  self-love  inevitably  issues  in  self- 
immolation;  that  the  way  to  keep  our  life  forever  is 
to  sacrifice  it,  and  that  we  attain  to  fruitfulness 
through  "losing  our  life,"  and  to  glory  through  mor- 
tification. He  pointed  to  three  obvious  proofs  of  the 
proposition  expressed  by  these  extraordinary  state- 
ments {yv.  23-25):  (i)  It  is  a  fundamental  law  of 
nature  that  life  springs  out  of  death.  Thus,  a  grain 
of  wheat  "abideth"  alone,  unless,  being  sown  in  the 
darkness  of  the  earth,  it  perishes,  and  in  perishing 
nourishes  the  new  plant  which  it  sends  forth  from  its 
heart  to  bear  an  hundredfold.  (2)  The  little  group  of 
disciples  around  Christ  who  had  "hated  their  lives*' 
for  His  sake,  were  evidently  "keeping"  them  in  the 
fullest  sense.  There  must  have  been  a  look  of  calm, 
deep  happiness  in  their  faces,  as  well  as  of  a  quiet 
dignity,  betokening  those  in  the  favor  of  a  great  King. 
We  notice  that  the  Greek  strangers  addressed  St. 
Philip,  the  poor  GaHlean  fisherman,  by  the  title,  "Sir," 


168  SAINT  JOHN 


or,  literally,  "Lord."  (3)  Christ's  own  crucified  Liff 
had  been  gloriously  successful,  even  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Jews;  for,  besides  His  unparalleled  supernatural 
powers,  which  had  culminated  in  the  raising  of  St. 
Lazarus  from  death,  'the  world  had  gone  after  Him' 
when  He  had  at  last  consented  to  be  acclaimed  King 
of  Israel  {v.  19).  Thus,  He  proved  by  patent  evi- 
dence, satisfactory  even  to  natural  reason,  that  the 
way  to  make  the  most  of  ourselves  is  through  dying 
to  ourselves  for  His  sake. 

The  same  truth  appears,  moreover,  in  this  way :  we 
cannot  find  real  happiness  except  in  the  service  of 
Jesus.  But  if  we  serve  Him,  we  must  follow  Him 
{v.  26),  and  He  enjoins  upon  all  His  disciples  a  love 
like  His,  consuming  self  (xiii:  34). 

Nor  is  this  supernatural  self-love  impossible  for  us. 
For  we  have  three  Divine  Helpers  all  striving  to  lift 
us  up  above  false  self-love  even  to  the  height  of  Jesus 
Crucified.  For  the  Father  is  "drawing"  us  to  Christ 
(vi:  44).  The  Son  said,  "I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Myself"  {v.  32).  By 
the  Holy  Spirit  we  are  "borne  unto  Perfection"  (Heb 
vi:  I,  literally  translated).  We  need  only  permit  the 
Blessed  Trinity  to  have  Their  way  with  us,  therefore, 
and  we  shall  be  exalted,  poor,  faulty  servants  though 
we  be,  to  the  fellowship  of  love,  with  Jesus. 


JFtitiap  matter  i\t  feecond  feuntiap  (n  Eent 

€|)rii9t  duf^erinQ  for  t|)e  ^entilesi 

It  seems  surprising,  at  first,  that  the  approach  of  the 
Greeks  and  their  eagerness  to  see  our  Lord  should 
have  caused  Him  such   keen   suffering   {yv.  2028). 


SAINT  JOHN  169 


The  reason  was,  however,  that  their  inquiry  brought 
vividly  before  Him  the  need  and  the  receptivity  of  the 
Gentiles,  to  whom  the  Gospel  and  the  Kingdom  of 
God  would  soon  pass.  But  first  He  must  die,  and 
rise  again,  for  them.  Thus  the  very  appeal  of  these 
Greek  proselytes  erected  His  Cross  before  His  very 
Eyes. 

Our  heroic  Master  seldom  gave  any  sign  of  the 
suffering  He  constantly  bore  on  our '  behalf.  His 
words  on  this  occasion  are  therefore  a  precious  revela- 
tion of  His  dear  human  Heart.  "Except  a  grain  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone, 
but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit,"  He  said, 
signifying  His  own  Crucifixion  under  this  humble 
figure.  What  to  the  Farmer  is  the  sowing  is  to  the 
Grain  a  'falling  into  the  earth.'  And  the  poor  Seed 
must  leave  Its  natural  sphere  and  lie  in  the  darkness 
under  the  soil.  Thus  all  the  suffering,  dereliction  ana 
manifold  mortification  of  His  Death  and  Sepulture 
were  none  the  less  real  to  His  human  Mind,  because 
He,  no  less  than  His  Father,  was  determined  to  pay 
the  supreme  price  for  us  Gentiles. 

It  was  in  order  to  show  us  how  bitter  was  the  strug- 
gle it  cost  Him  to  continue  steadfastly  in  the  way  of 
His  vocation,  and  how  great  was  His  Love  in  the 
Passion  He  endured  on  our  behalf,  that  He  expressed 
His  thoughts  aloud.  The  alternative  of  saying, 
"Father  save  Me  from  this  hour,"  which  would  have 
once  and  for  all  done  away  with  the  Cross,  or  of 
asking,  and  obtaining,  that  His  "Father  would  glorify 
His  name''  of  Love  by  the  Atonement,  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Him  hour  by  hour  all  His  life.  Nor  did  He 
ever  for  one  moment  hesitate  as  to  His  answer.  His 
Life  was  one  long  Passion  of  Love  for  us,  consum- 


170  SAINT  JOHN 


mated  on  the  Cross.  Thus  He  teaches  us  that,  in  the 
grammar  of  Divine  Charity,  the  perfect  of  "live"  is 
love.  ^ 

&aturtia?  jitter  tl^e  &econti  &untia^  in  Eent 

'BeliebttiG  3nto  t^e  Iltc|)t 

It  is  characteristic  of  St.  John  that  he  remembered 
our  Lord's  last  words  to  the  Jewish  world,  as  being 
"an  exhortation  and  a  promise,"  rather  than  warnings 
of  coming  judgment,  such  as  are  quoted  by  the  other 
three  Evangelists  as  the  conclusion  of  their  record  of 
His  public  Ministry  (cp.  St.  Matt.  xxv:46;  St.  Mk. 
xiii :  37 ;  St.  Luke  xxi :  36).  The  question  drawn  from 
the  people  by  His  gracious  saying  that  He  would  be 
"lifted  up  from  the  earth,"  in  order  to  draw  them  to 
Him,  had  shown  that  they  were  entirely  unprepared 
to  accept  the  crucified  Son  of  Man  as  the  Christ 
{v.  34).  Consequently,  He  foresaw  that  unless  they 
could  be  got  to  'believe  into  the  Light,  while  they 
had  the  Light,'  they  would  be  overtaken  by  the  black 
night  of  His  Passion,  and  would  never  "become  sons 
of  Light"  {v.  36,  A.  V.  Marg.).  In  His  anxiety  to 
elicit  from  them  a  definite,  conclusive  act  of  faith  in 
Him,  while  He  was  still  in  their  view  invested  with 
the  splendor  of  His  Kingship  {v.  13),  He  entirely 
forgot  His  own  position  on  the  very  brink  of  His 
Passion. 

Moreover,  our  Lord  had  revealed,  in  a  previous  dis- 
course appended  by  St.  John  here  {vv.  42-50),  that 
it  was  from  His  Father  He  had  received  His  great 
yearning  to  illuminate  men  with  Divine  Wisdom.  "I 
have  not  spoken  of  Myself,"  He  declared,  "but  the 
Father  which  sent  Me.    He  gave  Me  a  commandment 


SAINT  JOHN  171 


what  I  should  say,"  that  is,  the  substance  of  the  Gos- 
pel, "and  what  I  should  speak,"  which  means  every 
word  of  His  teaching  in  detail  {v.  49).  But,  if  God 
was  taking  such  infinite  pains  to  enlighten  the  Jews, 
how  can  it  be  said  that  He  was  at  the  same  time  blind- 
ing them  {w.  39  ff.)  ?  St.  Chrysostom  long  ago  an- 
swered that  the  Gospel  blinded  the  Jews,  because  their 
spiritual  eyes  were  weak  from  their  own  pride  and 
self-will.  So  far  from  causing  any  soul  to  shut  out 
its  salvation,  our  Lord  even  refused  to  condemn  the 
man,  if  there  were  any  such,  who  heard  His  teaching, 
and  still  remained  in  sincere  unbelief.  It  was  the  one 
who  rejected  Him,  and  received  not  His  words,  He 
said,  who  would  be  judged  by  the  Gospel  he  had 
wilfully  despised  (z^/.  47  f.)- 

The  fact  that  what  we  have  made  ourselves  deter- 
mines whether  or  not  we  will  hear  Christ's  word  is 
admirably  illustrated  by  the  different  interpretations 
put  by  two  groups  of  the  people  upon  the  Divine  Voice 
which  came  to  our  Lord  from  Heaven  (w.  28  f.)  To 
some  it  was  but  the  muttering  of  a  thunder  storm, 
while  to  the  others  it  was  *'the  broken  syllables  of 
God,"  brought  by  an  angel, — a  message  articulate, 
personal  and  from  some  holy  speaker.  The  Voice  had 
come  for  the  sake  of  the  people,  but  only  those  whose 
characters  were  attuned  to  God's  could  hear  it.  Let 
us  then  resolve  that  our  spiritual  senses  shall  be  quick- 
ened by  our  repentence  and  love,  this  Lent,  that 
through  all  our  future  life  they  may  be  keen  to  appre- 
hend the  glorious  truth  of  the  Divine  Illuminator. 


172  SAINT  JOHN 


^!?irli  iatteeft  in  Hent  Read  St.  John  xiii 

ttfie  'ISiru  feuntiap  m  Emt 

3[e>5U0  t|)e  «Iabc  of  (^i^  Creaturr^ 

On  the  last  night  of  His  Ministry,  our  Lord  filled 
every  moment  up  to  His  very  arrest  in  Gethsemane 
with  final  instructions  to  His  Apostles.  The  all-im- 
portant lesson  of  His  unremitting  service  to  His  crea- 
tures, however,  He  taught  by  the  symbolic  act  of  wash- 
ing their  feet.  Having  laid  aside  His  outer  garment, 
and  girded  Himself  with  a  towel  like  a  dom.estic  slave, 
He  knelt  before  each  of  them  and  performed  the  most 
menial  of  duties.  Now,  St.  John  explains  that  there 
were  three  reasons  for  His  thus  demanding  the  right 
of  serving  man  as  His  slave:  (a)  He  loved  His  own, 
whom  He  would  leave  in  the  world,  to  the  uttermost; 
(b)  He  fully  realized  His  Deity,  knowing  ''that  He 
was  come  from  God  and  went  to  God";  (c)  He  was 
the  absolute  Sovereign  of  the  universe,  for  "the  Father 
had  given  all  things  into  His  Hands"  {yv.  1-5).  And, 
because  His  action  was  typical  of  what  He  is  doing 
for  us  every  instant,  through  the  ages,  every  detail  of 
His  perfect  service  is  carefully  recorded  for  us  {yv. 
4f.). 

The  supreme  pledge,  however,  that  the  God-Man  is 
bound  to  work  as  our  slave  is  the  Incarnation.  "What 
wonder,"  cries  St.  Austin,  "if  He  girded  Himself  with 
a  towel,  when  He  had  accepted  the  form  of  a  slave 
and  was  found  in  the  habit  of  man.'* 

How  diflFerent  from  Jesus'  lowliness  and  love  is  the 
pride  of  our  fallen  human  nature !  Even  the  Apostles, 
though  they  were  saints,  had  scorned  to  do  the  office 
of  a  slave.    Should  Peter  be  servant  to  John,  and  so 


SAINT  JOHN  173 


yield  the  precedence  to  him !  Should  John  bathe  the 
feet  of  that  Iscariot,  whom  he  had  heard  muttering 
over  St.  Mary's  act  of  devotion  to  His  Master!  Yet 
God  Incarnate  knelt  humbly  before  all  of  them,  as  in- 
deed He  kneels  before  you  and  me  whenever  He 
washes  us  clean  from  the  soil  of  our  pilgrimage.  Dear 
Slave!  Bind  us  as  Thy  fellows,  by  an  irrevocable  in- 
denture, for  all  eternity  {y.  i6). 

Qpontiap  matter  tjie  W^xt^  §)untia^  in  Etnt 

Wc>z  Sljeological  l^irtuejai 

There  are  three  Greek  words,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  signify  the  example  of  Christ.  The  first, 
which  is  peculiar  to  St.  Paul,  the  apostolic  exponent  of 
Faith,  means  primarily,  "image.''  The  great  Apostle 
represents  the  whole  process  of  our  salvation,  as  our 
being  'conformed  to  the  image  of  the  Son  of  God,* 
that  is,  to  His  Character  manifested  to  us  in  His  exam- 
ple (Rom.  viii:  29).  Faith  would  have  us  keep  before 
our  eyes  the  revelation  of  perfect  holiness  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  strive  to  be  changed  into  that  Divinely 
lovely  image  "from  glory  to  glory"  (2  Cor.  iii:i8, 
A.  V.  Marg.). 

But  Hope,  in  the  person  of  St.  Peter,  sets  our  Lord's 
example  before  us  as  an  ''alphabetic  writing  copy,'* 
which  we  are  to  keep  on  imitating  until  it  becomes  sec- 
ond nature  to  us.  'For  hereunto  were  ye  called,'  he 
tells  us,  'because  Christ  also  suffered  for  you,  leaving 
you  a  Copy,  that  ye  should  diligently  follow  His  steps' 
(i  St.  Pet.  ii:2i).  He  fully  recognizes  that  we  are 
only  beginners,  awkward  children  with  a  perfect 
Model  before  us.    He  himself  bungled  sadly  in  trying 


174  SAINT  JOHN 


to  follow  It,  when  he  strove  to  prevent  his  Saviour 
from  cleansing  away  his  stains,  and  again  when  he 
insisted  that  he  was  strong  enough  to  go  with  Him 
to  prison  and  death  (St.  John  xiii :  6  fif.,  37  f.)-  But 
he  sets  before  us  the  sure  hope  that,  if  we  only  con- 
tinue practising  failjifully,  we  shall  find  at  last  that 
our  character  is  formed  like  that  of  Jesus. 

The  Apostle  of  Love  presents  to  us  the  example  of 
Christ  as  the  Divine  Character  in  action  (vv.  12-17). 
We  behold  the  Hands  into  which  the  Father  had  given 
all  things  used  to  bathe  the  soiled  feet  of  sinners. 
Those  who  would  follow  Christ,  he  teaches,  must  be 
practical  lovers  of  their  race.  The  most  royal,  the 
most  Divine,  thing  is  to  be  servant  of  all. 

'^Eue^tiap  MUX  i^t  ^W^  feunnap  in  Htnt 

Jrisue  anH  ^futais 

There  is  an  old  tradition,  that  the  first  of  the  Apos- 
tles whose  feet  our  Lord  washed  was  Judas.  Yet, 
even  as  He  performed  the  servile  task  for  him,  He 
knew  that  the  foot  He  was  bathing  and  drying  was 
about  to  spurn  Him  over  the  precipice  into  the  abyss 
of  His  Passion.  For,  a  little  later.  He  quoted,  with 
reference  to  the  traitor,  the  prophetic  words:  "He 
that  eateth  bread  with  Me  hath  lifted  up  his  heel 
against  Me"  {v.  18).  But,  even  now,  on  the  very  eve 
of  His  betrayal.  He  was  striving  with  intense  longing 
to  win  the  fallen  Apostle. 

We  see  how  perfectly  thoughtful,  and  tactful,  He 
was  with  that  evil  soul,  from  the  fact  that,  when  He 
had  to  identify  him  for  St.  John,  He  whispered,  so 
that  only  the  two  inquirers  heard.    Nor  would  He, 


SAINT  JOHN  175 


even  thus  softly,  breathe  the  traitor's  name,  for  fear 
of  at  once  revealing  him  to  all  the  Eleven,  to  his  public 
shame,  and  so  precipitating  his  final  downfall.  Fur- 
thermore, He  took  advantage  of  the  custom  of  giving 
a  morsel  to  the  favored  guest  at  a  banquet,  like  the 
later  courtesy  of  drinking  the  health  of  the  guest  of 
honor,  and  bestowed  this  mark  of  love  upon  Judas. 
It  seems  that  he  was  almost  won  by  this  gift  of  the 
*'sop,''  for  Satan,  the  very  king  of  evil,  hastened  to 
enter  his  heart,  fearing  that  his  job  would  be  spoiled 
{v,  2y).  Jesus  knew  that  it  was  hopeless,  then,  to  save 
him  from  spiritual  disaster.  But  when  self-will  in 
Judas  had,  unresisted,  fully  attained  its  purpose,  there 
would  come  a  moment  of  revulsion  of  feeling,  when 
it  would  hang  suspended,  between  repentance,  which 
is  sorrow  for  hurting  Christ,  and  remorse,  which  is 
pity  for  self  suffering  from  a  guilty  conscience.  Our 
Lord  planned  to  extend  that  moment.  Therefore,  He 
urged  Judas,  'What  thou  doest,  do  more  quickly,'  hop- 
ing that  he  might  thus  obtain  a  greater  opportunity  to 
choose  repentance,  and  salvation. 

Yet  the  Heart,  which  practiced  this  heroic  charity, 
was  very  human.  Thus,  He  felt  sorely  oppressed  by 
the  traitor's  presence.  ''Now  is  My  Soul  troubled," 
He  said,  sadly.  And,  when  Judas  had  gone  out.  His 
words  show  a  deep  feeling  of  intense  relief  {y.  31). 
He  was  our  own  Human  Brother,  as  well  as  our  all- 
loving  God,  in  His  treatment  of  His  incredibly  false 
friend,  and  we  must  strive  to  follow  Him,  even  though 
it  be  "afar  off." 


176  SAINT  JOHN 


(lQIetitu0tia?  ^ttet  X\t  U&itti  &untia^  in  Eent 

W^t  C^oIineiBe  of  t|)r  C|)urc|) 

Jesus,  the  "Shepherd  and  Bishop"  of  the  Christian 
Church,  on  that  last  evening  before  He  suffered,  gave 
to  His  Apostles  a  share  of  His  everlasting  Priesthood, 
to  be  the  endowment  of  the  Catholic  Ministry.  Prob- 
ably the  foot-washing  was  meant  in  part  as  a  cere- 
mony of  ordination,  like  that  by  which  Moses  conse- 
crated Aaron  and  his  sons  (Ex.  xxix:4).  For  He 
commissioned  them  to  wash  away  the  dust  of  the 
earthly  pilgrimage  from  the  feet  of  their  fellow- 
servants  by  Absolution  {v.  14;  xx:22f.);  and  after 
He  had  celebrated  the  first  Eucharist,  He  gave  them 
authority  to  do  as  He  had  done  (St.  Luke  xxii:  19; 
I  Cor.  xi:  24  f.). 

The  generous  love  of  our  Head  in  making  these 
magnificent  gifts  to  the  faithful  is  seen  to  be  all  the 
greater,  from  the  fact  that  He  does  not  allow  them  to 
depend  upon  the  holiness  of  the  one  who  administers 
them.  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,"  He  declared 
in  His  doubly  solemn  way,  "He  that  receiveth  whom- 
soever I  send,  receiveth  Me"  {v.  20).  Once  before  He 
had  given  them  this  ambassadorial  authority,  but  with 
the  significant  difference  that  then  He  had  said  simply, 
"Whosoever  receiveth  you  receiveth  Me"  (St.  Matt, 
x:  40).  In  the  meantime,  Judas  had  represented  Him, 
and  He  wanted  them  to  know  that  even  the  traitor's 
ministerial  acts  were  valid.  Thus,  He  will  not  permit 
the  people  to  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  grace  by  the 
unworthiness  of  the  priest. 

Moreover,  in  His  eyes,  a  Church  does  not  cease  to 
be  holy,  even  though  it  contains  false  disciples.  To 
teach  this,  He  said  to  the  Church  in  the  Upper  Room, 


SAINT  JOHN  \77 


"Ye  are  clean,  but  not  all."  They  did  not  as  a  body 
lose  the  note  of  holiness,  even  though  one  of  them 
was  a  traitor  to  their  Lord.  Thus,  Jesus  Christ  wishes 
us  to  continue  faithful  communicants  of  His  Church, 
though  laymen,  or  even  the  very  priests  at  the  altar, 
prove  disloyal  to  Him.         . 

'lESut^liap  jatttr  tje  W^it\\  feuntiap  in  Eent 

^roubltne  ant  ComfortinQ  3f^)3U0 

There  were  three  occasions,  which  St.  John  links 
together  by  the  strong  Greek  verb  he  uses  only  therein, 
when  our  Lord  was  "troubled."  The  first  time  was 
at  the  grave  of  St.  Lazarus,  when  He  voluntarily  as- 
sumed the  suffering  of  the  sisters  (xi :  33,  R.  V. 
Marg.).  The  second  was  when  the  appearance  of  the 
Greek  Gentiles  made  Him  realize  more  poignantly 
than  before  the  bitterness  of  His  approaching  Passion 
(xii:  27).  This  was  natural,  human  pain  which  came 
uninvited  but  was  borne  gladly  for  our  sake.  It  was 
the  third  affliction  which  our  Saviour  endured  un- 
willingly, because  it  was  due  to  the  disloyalty  of  His 
friend.  All  our  infirmities  and  sicknesses,  our  grief, 
and  the  death-penalty  of  our  transgression.  He  ac- 
cepted joyfully,  but  He  shrinks  with  loathing  and  hor- 
ror from  the  infliction  of  our  sins. 

It  is  a  happiness  to  know,  that  at  the  moment  He 
felt  the  treason  of  Judas  most  keenly,  the  Disciple 
whom  He  loved  lay  in  His  Bosom.  Let  us  picture  the 
group.  As  was  the  custom,  the  company  reclined, 
three  together,  on  the  divans.  St.  Peter  was  just  be- 
yond our  Lord,  Who  lay  between  him  and  St.  John, 
so  that  the  young  Apostle's  head  was  close  to  his  Mas- 
ter's Breast.    When  he  asked  the  name  of  the  traitor, 

13 


171  SAINT  JOHN 


he  leaned  back  so  that  he  rested  upon  our  Saviour's 
Heart  and  looked  up  into  His  Face.  The  place  of 
honor,  second  to  that  of  Jesus  in  the  center,  was  as- 
signed to  St.  Peter  as  the  eldest  of  the  Apostolic  Col- 
lege; but  St.  John's  was  the  station  of  His  beloved 
one,  whose  great  devotion  soothed  His  wounded  Spirit. 
We  also  have  it  in  our  power  to  apply  that  salve  of 
holiness  and  love.    Shall  we  withhold  it  from  Jesus? 

However  great  was  His  own  suffering,  Christ  spared 
the  Eleven  to  the  utmost  of  His  power.  Charity  to 
Judas  would  have  forbidden  Him  even  to  indicate  who 
the  traitor  was,  so  that  it  would  become  known  after 
his  departure,  had  it  not  been  that  He  could  not  bear 
to  see  His  faithful  Apostles  suffer  from  the  fear  that 
one  of  them  would  turn  against  Him.  It  is  grateful 
to  Jesus,  if  we  imitate  His  charity.  Let  us  to-day 
resolve  to  practice  it,  especially  against  detraction  and 
over-severity  toward  others. 

6Jorif?inc  t|)e  iFat^er 

When  Judas  had  left  for  his  black  deed,  our  Lord 
cried  out  with  triumphant  exultation,  "Now  was  the 
Son  of  Man  glorified,  and  God  was  glorified  in  Him" 
{y,  31,  R.  V.  Marg.).  His  meaning  was  that  in  per- 
mitting Judas  to  depart  on  his  mission  of  betrayal,  He 
had  made  a  definite  act  of  Self-surrender  to  His  Voca- 
tion of  suffering  death  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
He  could  have  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  traitor,  but 
instead  He  had,  at  that  crucial  moment,  as  always, 
chosen  to  accept  His  Passion.  Thus  His  Father  was 
glorified  in  His  Soul  by  His  act  of  sacrifice  of  His 


SAINT  JOHN  17f 


Human  Will.  Now,  the  disciple  must  imitate  His 
Lord  in  this  self-immolation  to  the  glory  of  God 
(xxi:  19). 

But  not  only  was  the  Father  glorified  in  the  Lamb 
of  God  by  His  freely  submitting  to  become  our  Vic- 
tim; His  own  Human  Spirit  was  glorified  in  God. 
"Now,"  He  declared,  "was  the  Son  of  Man  glorified." 
The  same  Crucifixion  of  His  Human  Will  by  which 
He  magnified  His  Father,  merited,  and  instantly  ob- 
tained, an  added  beauty  for  His  radiant  Soul.  And 
we,  whenever  we  exalt  God  by  a  thought,  or  some  lit- 
tle act  of  self-denial  for  His  sake,  immediately  receive 
an  increase  of  grace  and  favor  in  His  sight. 

Furthermore,  our  Lord  revealed  that  the  Father 
would  glorify  His  Manhood  the  more  for  every  suf- 
fering of  His  Passion.  "God  shall  glorify  [the  Son 
of  Man]  in  Himself,"  He  said,  "and  straightway  shall 
He  glorify  Him."  The  Bloody  Sweat  of  Gethsemane, 
the  seven  false  trials,  the  crowning  of  thorns,  the 
scourging,  and  the  final  hours  on  Calvary,  replete  as 
they  were  with  agony,  brought  not  one  slightest  throb 
of  pain  which  was  without  its  meed  of  everlasting 
splendor  to  the  Soul  of  the  Crucified.  Yet,  there  is  a 
far  more  wonderful  proof  of  the  Father's  love  than 
this.  For  He  rewards  His  poor  sinful  creatures  with 
glory,  for  their  every  suffering  in  His  service,  just  as 
surely  as  He  added  to  the  ineffable  beauty  of  His 
Incarnate  Son,  for  the  Acts  of  His  Passion. 

&atttttia^  Sitttt  t^e  ditu  fenntia^  in  JLmt 

Q:^(  jfBfto  Commantiinfnt 

It  is  very  significant  that  Jesus  never  referred  to 
His  commandments  until  the  eve  of  His  Passion,   He 


180  SAINT  JOHN 


meant  to  lay  upon  His  disciples  as  His  special  precept, 
the  obligation  of  a  love  like  His  own,  and  He  reserved 
this  supremely  important  matter,  until  it  would  come 
to  them  from  His  death -bed  with  double  sacredness. 
Besides,  it  would  be  wisest  to  leave  them  something 
hard  to  do  during  the  years  of  loneliness  that  would 
follow  His  Ascension  {y.  33)  ;  and  to  strive  after  the 
ideal  of  Divine  Charity,  for  His  sake,  would  comfort, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  would  humble,  them. 

The  law  of  love  for  our  fellow -men  is  not  new  in 
substance  (cp.  Lev.  xix:i8;  St.  Luke  x:27).  But 
when  our  Saviour  commanded  His  disciples  to  love  one 
another  even  as  He  had  loved  them.  He  assigned  a 
new  and  far  more  compelling  motive  for  that  mutual 
charity  which  had  long  been  of  obligation.  Now  they 
must  exercise  it  for  His  sake.  Whose  love  for  them 
on  the  Tree  was  ''strong  as  death."  Again,  their  spir- 
itual love  was  wider  in  scope;  it  would  be  the  super- 
eminent  virtue  of  His  Universal  Church  and  by  it  all 
men  would  be  attracted  to  the  standard  of  the  Cross 
{v.  35).  Lastly  they  had  just  received  a  power  for 
holy  charity  which  had  never  existed  before.  For  the 
great  High  Priest  had  for  the  first  time  given  them  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  of  Love. 

We  appreciate  somewhat  of  the  impression  He  made 
upon  the  Apostles  by  His  "new  commandment,"  from 
the  ancient  tradition  that  at  the  very  time  St.  John 
wrote  his  Gospel,  his  one  sermon,  Sunday  after  Sun- 
day, was,  "Little  children,  love  one  another."  St. 
Jerome  relates  that  his  people  became  weary  of  his 
repeating  this  so  often,  and  asked  him  why  he  did  so. 
"Because,"  he  answered,  "it  is  the  Lord's  command- 
ment ;  and,  if  it  is  fulfilled  it  is  enough."  May  Jesus 
fill  our  hearts  with  this  deep  apostolic  charity,  dissipat- 


SAINT  JOHN  181 


ing  all  malice  and  unkindness,  and  binding  us  together 
in  Himself.  . 

^^e  JFourti^)  2Iilf  eft  in  JLent*  Read  St.  John  xiv 

The  warning  that  St.  Peter  would  soon  deny  their 
beloved  Master,  not  once  nor  twice,  but  thrice,  had 
filled  the  Eleven  with  sadness,  both  for  our  Lord's 
sake  and  for  that  of  their  fellow  Apostle.  Jesus  saw, 
therefore,  that  for  the  time  their  greatest  need  was 
not  so  much  charity  as  faith.  Therefore,  He  said  to 
them,  'Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled;  believe  into 
God,  believe  also  into  Me'  {v.  i,  A.  V.  Marg.).  He 
knew  that  the  future  looked  gloomy  indeed  to  them. 
For  one  thing,  it  seemed  that  they  would  be  homeless 
wanderers  in  the  world.  He  must  make  them  realize 
that,  though  they  might  be  without  earthly  friends,  or 
wealth,  or  even  shelter,  they  would  still  be  safe,  body 
and  soul,  in  God  and  in  His  own  devoted  Heart. 

Yet,  Heaven,  whither  they  knew  He  was  going, 
seemed  a  vast  distance  from  the  earth.  It  was  not  so, 
He  assured  them.  'Tn  My  Father's  House  are  many 
mansions ;  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you." 
The  "mansions"  were,  literally,  the  inns  which  were 
located  along  the  great  postroads  of  the  Empire,  and 
His  Father's  ''House"  was  the  universe.  Thus  He 
meant  to  teach  them  that  the  world,  for  all  their  labor 
and  strife,  would  be  to  them  but  a  rest-house,  a  place 
of  calm  peace  and  refreshment,  on  the  way  Home- 
ward. There  was  no  immense  abyss  between  the  earth 
and  Heaven,  but  rather  a  postroad,  which  He  was 
about  to  point  out  to  them  {v.  4). 


182  SAINT  JOHN 


But  even  these  great  consolations  were  not  enough 
to  comfort  them.  He  knew  well  that  what  they  could 
not  bear  was  the  fear  that  He  would  no  longer  be  with 
them  as  Man.  He  hastened,  therefore,  to  take  away 
this  baseless  dread.  "If  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you,"  He  said,  "I  come  again,"  and  *'the  'coming'  is 
regarded  in  its  continual  present."  Jesus  'would  not 
leave  them  orphans' ;  He  would  be  perpetually  'coming' 
in  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  Indeed,  He  would  abide 
always  with  them,  if  they  would  reserve  the  Holy 
Mysteries  {v.  i8,  R.  V.;  St.  Matt.  xxviii:2o).  Now, 
all  their  blessings  are  ours.  And  ours,  too,  is  that  most 
precious  promise,  "I  will  receive  you  unto  Myself,  that 
where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also."  For  it  means  that 
a  Christian's  death  is  just  dear  Jesus  coming  and  tak- 
ing his  soul  in  His  arms  to  carry  it  into  another  "man- 
sion" of  His  Father's  House. 


Sl^ontia^  iattet  tfie  JFourtJ  ^unlia^  in  Eent 

Our  dear  Lord  declared  that  He  is  All.  He  is  the 
Way  to  God,  the  Truth  to  guide  us  on  our  pilgrimage, 
and  Life  to  quicken  and  maintain  us  unto  the  end 
{y.  6).  And,  when  time  shall  be  no  more,  He  will  be 
to  us  also  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  Everlasting 
(xi:25). 

Our  race  has  always  needed  Him  to  supply  its  deep- 
est want.  The  oldest  religion  of  which  we  have  any 
remains  is  Taoism,  a  cry  for  "the  Way"  from  those 
lost  Mongolian  brethren  of  ours,  ringing  out  to  God 
in  the  early  dawn  of  human  history.  For  the  term 
"Tao,"  modern  scholars  agree,  means  a  quest  of  the 


SAINT  JOHN  183 


way  or  passage  through  which  everything  enters  into 
life,  and  at  the  same  time  the  way  of  highest  perfec- 
tion. Man's  search  ended  when  Christ  came  and  estab- 
lished His  Holy  Church,  which  as  if  to  reveal  "Tao," 
took  during  its  earliest  years  no  title  but  'The  Way" 
(cp.  Acts  ix:  2;  xix:  9,  23,  etc.,  A.  V.  Marg.). 

Jesus  is,  therefore,  the  Viaduct  between  the  two 
worlds  of  earth  and  Heaven.  For  'no  one  cometh  unto 
the  Father,  but  through  Him.'  It  is  this  *'Way"  upon 
which  He  would  have  us  concentrate  our  attention  and 
effort,  while  yet  we  keep  the  Divine  Goal  in  view. 
"Whither  I  go,"  He  told  His  stricken  Apostles,  "ye 
know  the  way"  {yv.  4  ff.,  R.  V.).  There  is  a  modern 
painting,  of  three  men  racing,  which  admirably  illus- 
trates this  teaching  of  the  Christian  course.  There  is 
a  boy  running  freely  and  joyfully,  evidently  delighted 
with  the  exercise,  not  looking  to  the  end  particularly, 
but  keeping  to  the  course.  Beside  him  is  a  mature 
man,  whose  eyes  are  fixed  upon  the  goal,  toward  which 
he  is  directing  his  every  step.  The  third  of  the  group 
is  an  old  man,  who  runs  with  eyes  bent  on  the  ground, 
following  the  course  marked  out.  The  child  represents 
the  joy  of  the  faithful  even  in  mid-course;  the  younger 
of  the  two  adults  symbolizes  the  Christian  as  he  runs 
"looking  away  to  Jesus" ;  and  the  elder  personifies  the 
prudent  care  we  must  exercise  to  follow  the  *'Way" 
which  our  Saviour  has  marked  out  by  His  Footsteps. 

^i)t  $acretineiei0  of  ^rut|> 

Jesus  Christ  is  "the  Truth."  All  knowledge,  both 
gecular  and  religious,  is  from  His  Divine  Mind.  He  is 
the  Light  Which  is  ever  'coming  into  the  wodd/  more 


184  SAINT  JOHN 


and  more,  as  each  succeeding  generation  becomes  the 
heir  of  all  the  past,  and  grows  increasingly  receptive 
to  Him.  Thus,  every  kind  of  truth,  whether  of  art  or 
science  or  theology,  is  a  ray  from  the  True  Light 
(i:9).  Be  it  a  landscape  or  a  newly  discovered  prin- 
ciple of  physics  or  biology,  Parsifal,  or  two  plus  two 
equals  four,  all  are  the  Thoughts  of  God.  In  them 
the  painter  or  the  scientist,  the  great  musician  or  the 
schoolboy,  has  but  reflected  gleams  of  the  infinite  Wis- 
dom in  the  Word  of  God. 

It  follows  that  the  Catholic  Christian  is  best  fitted 
to  receive  all  knowledge.  For,  by  our  religion  our 
minds  are  brought  into  ever  closer  likeness  to  the  Mind 
of  God,  and  thus  we  gain  a  greater  receptiveness  for 
His  Wisdom.  Again,  our  consciences  are  simply  our 
minds  acting  upon  a  particular  kind  of  truth,  that  is, 
the  moral  law  in  its  various  applications  to  conduct. 
If,  therefore,  our  consciences  are  cleansed  and 
strengthened  by  righteousness,  our  minds  will  be  cor- 
respondingly purified  and  stimulated  so  that  they  can 
better  discern,  not  only  the  truth  of  morals,  but  that 
of  science,  metaphysics  and  theology.  It  will  help  us 
to  see  how  true  in  experience  this  principle  is,  if  we 
take  one  out  of  a  vast  number  of  examples.  The  sci- 
entific fact  upon  which  all  antitoxins  are  based  was 
discovered  by  a  man  of  mediocre  ability,  but  of  deep 
piety  and  consecration.  All  the  famous  chemists  of 
the  Academy  of  Science  had  examined  the  two  globules 
from  which  the  blessed  truth  was  first  learned;  but 
only  poor,  dull  Pasteur,  the  butt  of  scientific  Paris, 
observed  intelligently  the  phenomenon  that  one  mole- 
cule was  a  trifle  flatter  than  the  other.  His  mind  had 
become  receptive  to  the  new  truth,  which  he  deduced, 
because  through  prayer  and  sacraments  it  had  grown 


SAINT  JOHN  185 


to  be  more  like  that  of  the  Word,  than  was  the  most 
brilHant  intellect  among  the  savants  of  the  Academy. 
It  is,  therefore,  to  a  man  who  strove  for  truth  as  Di- 
vine and  Sacred,  one  who  approached  science  with  a 
mind  full  of  religious  dogmas,  and  whose  chief  en- 
dowment was  holiness,  that  we  owe  the  countless  lives 
saved  by  the  use  of  antitoxins. 

Jesus  is  Truth.  Skepticism,  in  the  person  of  the 
Sadducees  and  Pilate,  crucified  Him.  Shall  we,  then, 
encourage  the  enemies  of  the  Word  of  God  ?  Shall  we 
read,  and  disseminate  their  books,  or  even  listen  to 
their  teaching?  St.  John  fled  from  the  building  which 
was  sheltering  the  heretic  Cerinthus.  Let  us  have  no 
part  nor  lot  with  false  teachers,  but  rather  guard  Di- 
vine Truth  as  we  guard  the  safety  of  our  Lord. 


(lOetim0liap  matter  iftt  jfourtD  ^un&ap  {xk  Emt 

3[e0U)3  3)3  Dur  Htfe 

Our  dear  Lord  twice  revealed  Himself  as  "the  Life," 
and  on  both  occasions  the  light  of  His  saying  is  the 
more  glorious  because  there  was  the  gloomy  back- 
ground of  death  (cp.  xi:25).  In  the  Upper  Room, 
that  last  night.  He  wanted  the  Apostles  to  know  that 
through  His  Self-immolation,  He  would  become  to  His 
Church  the  Source  of  boundless  vital  power  in  "the 
way."  At  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  He  meant  that  His 
faithful  servants  receive  from  Him  a  principle  of  life 
which  will  survive  death,  and  at  the  Resurrection  will 
fill  their  souls  and  bodies  with  eternal  health. 

St.  John,  writing  sixty  years  after  Christ  ascended, 
could  still  say  to  all  the  communicants  throughout  the 
Church  that  the  Humanity  of  the  Incarnate  Word  was 


186  SAINT  JOHN 


"full  of  grace"  for  them,  and  that  of  His  fulness  they 
all  had  received,  and  grace  upon  grace  (1:14,  16). 
The  entire  body  of  the  faithful  in  95  a.d.  had  drawn 
their  souls'  fill  from  the  Fountain  of  Life  in  Jesus  as 
truly  as  the  Apostles  themselves  had  done.  Yet,  ex- 
cept for  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  which  is  the  "Exten- 
sion of  the  Incarnation,"  no  Christian  of  that  day  could 
possibly  have  received  grace  from  the  Chalice  of  that 
sacred  Manhood  which  was  throned  in  Heaven.  But 
through  those  same  Holy  Mysteries,  we  Twentieth 
Century  Christians,  like  the  countless  past  generations 
of  the  Church's  children,  receive  spiritual  vitality  to 
our  utmost  capacity,  from  Jesus'  limitless  fulness  of 
life. 

It  is  notable  that  the  unusual  Greek  word  for  "ful- 
ness" occurs  only  once  in  St.  John's  writings,  and  no- 
where else  in  the  Bible  except  in  St.  Paul's  Epistles 
to  the  Colossians  and  to  the  Ephesians,  both  of  which 
were  written  from  his  Roman  prison.  The  word  for 
"grace,"  also,  after  being  used  by  our  Evangelist  four 
times,  never  again  appears  in  this  sense  in  his  writ- 
ings, but  occurs  with  great  frequency  in  the  Pauline 
Epistles.  Very  probably,  therefore,  St.  John's  con- 
ception of  Christ  as  "full  of  grace"  and  sharing  his 
"fulness"  with  .his  poor  brethren  in  the  world,  is  a 
reminiscence  of  his  fellowship  with  the  great  prisoner 
at  Rome.  He,  himself,  according  to  the  tradition,  was 
cast  into  a  vat  of  boiling  oil,  but  his  life  was  miracu- 
lously preserved.  It  is  profoundly  touching  that  the 
two  Apostles,  through  the  very  stress  of  the  peril  and 
suffering  they  endured,  came  to  realize  the  "fulness" 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  In  trouble  like  theirs,  we  also  may, 
if  we  will,  discover  the  all-sufficiency  for  our  needs  of 
Him  Who  is  our  Life. 


SAINT  JOHN  187 


<2r6at0tiap  rafter  tSe  JFoutft  feuntiap  in  Ef nt 

Nothing  could  be  more  deeply  appealing  than  the 
extreme  delicacy  and  tenderness  of  Jesus  with  His 
Apostles  during  those  last  hours  before  His  arrest. 
It  was  as  if  He  was  keeping  His  finger  on  their  pulse, 
and  was  sensitive  to  its  slightest  slackening  or  quick- 
ening. Thus,  He  noticed  instantly  that  they  ''heard" 
when  He  told  them  gently  that  He  was  going  away, 
and  the  look  of  intense  relief  when  He  hastened  to 
add  'T  come  again  unto  you"  {yv.  2  f.,  28).  He  would 
not  lay  upon  them  even  more  instruction  than  He  saw 
they  could  "bear"  (xvi:i2).  Yet  He  knew  that  the 
hour  was  upon  Him  when  He  would  go  forth  into  the 
Place  of  a  Skull  "bearing  His  Cross." 

His  intense  solicitude  for  them  appears  also  from 
the  fact  that  once  and  again  He  sought  to  soothe  the 
trouble  out  of  their  hearts  {yu.  i,  27).  His  Heart  was 
abundantly  "troubled,"  both  by  Judas'  treason,  and 
by  the  anticipation  of  His  Agony  and  Death.  But  He 
completely  forgot  His  own  anguish  in  consoling  them. 

No  way  of  Comforting  His  Own  did  He  leave  un- 
tried. As  tenderly  and  ingeniously  as  some  wonderful 
mother  He  suggested  one  helpful  thought  after  an- 
other :  He  was  only  going*  away  to  prepare  a  place  for 
them,  where  they  could  be  with  Him  always:  {vv. 
2f.).  They  should  have  another  Advocate,  abiding 
with  them  on  earth ;  He,  also,  would  come  continually 
to  His  "orphans"  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament  {vv.  16- 
18).  He  was  leaving  them  the  precious  bequest  of 
His  peace  and  His  joy  {y.  2y\  xv:  11).  Besides,  they 
ought  to  rejoice  over  His  gain  in  His  going  "unto  the 
Father/'  because  the  Father  was  greater  than  He  in 


188  SAINT  JOHN 


His  Manhood,  and  would  clothe  that  sacred  Humanity 
with  ineffable  glory  and  fill  the  dear  Heart  with  joy 
eternal  {v.  28).  But  they  also,  almost  immediately 
after  His  Passion,  would  have  a  Risen  Saviour,  over 
Whom  they  would  rejoice  as  a  mother  over  her  first- 
born babe  (xvi:  16-20).  And  they  would  make  an 
infinite  profit  even  out  of  His  Ascension  to  Heaven, 
because  He  mu\st  depart  thither,  before  He  could  send 
the  Blessed  Spirit  upon  His  Church  (xvi:  7).  This  is 
Jesus'  Way  with  His  own.  May  we  not  commit  our- 
selves, body  and  soul,  into  His  pierced  Hands  with 
absolute  trust?  . 

iFtiDa^  "after  t^e  jFourtI)  feuntiap  m  Eent 

£)ur  Wi%t  toiti)  ?[c0U!S 

The  disciples  of  Him  Who  was  Divine  Love  Incar- 
nate must  be,  above  all  things,  practical.  'Tf  you  love 
Me,"  so  runs  His  test  of  our  Christianity,  "ye  will 
keep  My  commandments"  {v.  15,  A.  V.  Marg.).  And 
this  is  one  of  those  propositions  which  is  so  true  in  all 
its  terms  that  its  converse  also  is  true.  "H  ye  keep 
My  commandments,"  He  declared  a  little  later,  '*ye 
shall  abide  in  My  love."  Thus  He  urges  practical  dis- 
cipleship  upon  both  of  the  two  opposite  types  of  Chris- 
tians :  those  who  are  temperamentally  disposed  to  obe- 
dience must  learn  to  be  lovers,  not  legalists;  while 
those  who  are  easily  moved  to  love  of  Christ  and  their 
fellows  must  constrain  themselves  to  obey  His  com- 
mandments, laid  down  in  His  Gospel  and  His  Church. 

Moreover,  we  must  permit  our  Lord  to  manifest 
Himself  to  us  more  and  more  perfectly  (v.  21).  Let 
us  learn  a  lesson  from  the  error  of  St.  Thomas  and 
St.  Philip.    They  supposed  that  God  could  only  reveal 


SAINT  JOHN  189 


Himself  to  them  in  an  apparition,  or  theophany  {v.  8). 
"Lord,"  said  St.  Philip,  ''show  us  the  Father,  and  it 
sufficeth  us."  But  the  most  perfect  manifestation  of 
God  was  through  the  revelation  of  Holiness  and  Love 
in  the  life  of  His  Incarnate  Son,  recorded  for  us  in  the 
Gospel.  ''If  ye  had  known  Me,'*  Christ  answered,  "ye 
would  have  known  My  Father  also.  .  .  ,  He  that  hath 
seen  Me,  hath  seen  the  Father."  In  fact,  we  receive 
in  the  Life  of  Jesus  a  far  more  perfect  revelation  of 
God  than  we  could  get  from  many  visions  of  Him. 

Thus  did  He  teach  His  Apostles  the  way  of  fellow- 
ship with  Him.  And  we  should  realize  that  they 
actually  learned  His  lessons  of  obedience,  love  and 
receptiveness.  Thus,  St.  Thomas  remained  silent  after 
his  first  question,  and  assimilated  what  he  was  told, 
until  it  bore  fruit  in  his  great  confession  of  Jesus  as 
his  Lord  and  God  (xx:28).  Let  us  provide  Him  an 
abode  with  us  {v.  23),  and  put  our  life  under  the 
dominion  of  His  love.         « 

featurtiap  matter  tjie  JFourtji  ^unnap  In  Eent 

3fc)8Ui3'  <Sift  to  l^iia  2DUm 

Our  Saviour  tells  us  that  His  way  of  giving  to  us 
is  the  opposite  of  that  which  obtains  in  the  world 
{v.  2'/).  If  we  compare  the  two,  we  find  these  among 
other  points  of  contrast:  (i)  Worldlings  give  from 
interested  motives,  hoping  to  receive  as  much  again, 
or  more  (St.  Luke  vi:33f.);  while  Christ  gives  to 
those  who  have  nothing  wherewith  to  recompense 
Him.  (2)  They  share  only  with  their  friends;  He 
offers  His  all  freely  to  friend  and  foe  alike.  (3)  They 
part  only  with  what  costs  them  nothing,  or,  what,  like 
bequests,  they  cannot  keep;  Christ's  benefits  cost  Him 


190  SAINT  JOHN 


a  Life  of  suffering,  the  Cross,  and  continual  labor  up 
until  now,  and  He  could  have  retained  all  without  in 
the  least  diminishing  His  own  happiness.  (4)  They 
pretend  to  bestow  the  most  precious  gifts,  while  in 
fact  they  do  not  possess  them ;  but  Jesus  endows  His 
beloved  ones  with  His  own  characteristic  peace  and 
joy  in  their  perfection  and  fulness  (z;.  27;  xv:  11). 

H,  however,  we  think  of  the  world's  gifts  in  our 
Lord's  comparison  as  being  the  temporal  blessings  of 
our  natural  life,  our  experience  again  justifies  His 
saying,  "Not  as  the  world  gives,  give  I  unto  you." 
For  earthly  joys  are  so  constituted  as  to  give  the 
greatest  pleasure  at  the  beginning.  They  serve  us  with 
their  best  wine  first,  then  bring  on  that  which  is  worse. 
But  Christ's  gifts  "grow  in  power  and  fulness  of 
blessing."    He  keeps  the  good  wine  until  the  last. 

The  blessing  of  peace  is  an  excellent  example.  The 
world  cries,  "Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace" 
(Jer.  vi:  14).  But  Jesus  bequeathed  us  His  peace,  to 
comfort  us  in  trouble  and  to  save  us  from  moral 
cowardice  {v.  2y)  \  for  that  legacy  from  our  Saviour 
is  the  sure  "confidence  of  faith  and  fellowship  with 
God."  May  dear  Jesus  give  us,  morning  by  morning, 
His  Kiss  and  His  Greeting  of  Peace  (xx:  19,  26). 


[The  following  Meditations  (to  page  215)  on  Chapters  xv- 
xvii  are  intended  for  Ascensiontide  and  Whitsuntide,  becanse 
they  constitute  the  only  appropriate  part  of  the  Gospel  for 
those  Seasons.  It  seems  better  to  place  our  studies  on  this 
section  here,  in  order  not  to  break  the  continuity  of  the  sacred 
t«xt.  The  reader  should  pass  them  by  at  this  time  an^  con- 
tinue the  Lenten  Meditations.] 


SAINT  JOHN  191 


IFor  aftfwiontite*  Read  St.  John  xv 

ja0ctn0(on  5Da? 

Wcfi  l^eabenlH  l?ine 

The  beautiful  parable  of  the  Vine  and  Its  branches 
was  very  probably  spoken  by  Qirist  as  He  stood  in 
the  Temple.  It  is  certain,  that  He  had  left  the  Upper 
Room  and  was  at  some  point  on  His  way  to  Gethsem- 
ane ;  we  know  also  that  His  Father's  House  was  open 
after  midnight  on  this  one  day  in  the  year,  and  ac- 
cordingly, with  great  authorities,  we  shall  think  of 
Him  as  remaining  there  until  He  had  finished  His  High 
Priestly  prayer  (xvii).  How  full  of  sacred  associa- 
tions it  was  for  them  all!  There,  on  Mount  Moriah, 
Melchizedek  had  offered  his  sacrifice  to  the  ''Most  High 
God,"  and  there,  also,  Abraham  had,  in  intention, 
offered  his  son  as  a  willing  victim  (Gen.  xiv:i8ff. ; 
xxii:  14;  cp.  2  Chron.  iii :  i). 

Before  them,  crowning  the  portal  of  the  temple,  was 
fastened  a  great  golden  vine  heavy  with  clusters.  "I 
am  the  true  Vine,"  said  our  Lord ;  and  later  He  added, 
"Ye  are  the  branches."  He  is  not  simply  the  stem,  but 
the  entire  Plant,  including  in  Itself  every  tiny  shoot 
and  new  graft.  Thus  He  would  teach  us,  that  we  of 
the  Church  on  earth  are  in  vital  union  with  Him  in 
Heaven.  Wherever  we  go,  we  are  still  branches  of 
this  Heavenly  Vine,  and  must  bear  fruit  unto  It  {v. 
16).  Apart  from  Him,  we  can  do  nothing  {yv,  4  f.). 
The  vine  wood  is,  indeed,  entirely  worthless ;  probably 
from  the  Temple  Mount  they  could  see  the  fires  of 
Kidron  burning  the  withered  clippings  from  the  vine- 
yards. The  more  fruitful  we  are,  therefore,  the  more 
joyfully  certain  we  can  be  that  we  are  being  strength- 


192  SAINT  JOHN 


ened  by  grace  from  Jesus'  Soul,  as  the  fruitful  branch 
is  nourished  by  sap  from  the  heart  of  the  vine. 

One  other  lesson,  which  is  set  in  the  forefront  of 
this  discourse,  is  that  the  Apostles  were  "clean  through 
the  Word"  of  Christ,  that  is,  through  the  whole  course 
of  His  instruction  and  discipline  during  their  three 
years  together.  Probably  He  was  referring  to  the  fact 
that  according  to  the  Mosaic  Law  a  vine  was  held  to 
be  "unclean"  for  three  years  during  which  time  much 
of  its  natural  growth  had  to  be  pruned  away.  H,  there- 
fore, we  are  allowed  to  suffer,  let  us  consider  it  a  sign 
that,  through  our  union  with  Jesus  in  Heaven,  we  are 
fruitful,  wherefore  the  Divine  Husbandman  is  "cleans- 
ing us,"  that  we  may  bring  forth  more  fruit  {y.  2). 
Suffering  is  a  positive  proof  to  Christians  that  God  is 
in  His  Heaven,  and  all  is  well  with  us  on  earth. 

JFriHa^  fn  tfie  flDctabe  of  ^a^cenjafion 

Dfecontent  toitb  Cur  JpruitfuIneiB^ 

There  is  an  almost  incredible  object  held  out  to  the 
ambition  of  the  Christian  in  our  Lord's  revelation  that 
our  Heavenly  Father  is  glorified  in  our  bearing  much 
fruit.  Every  fresh  cluster  adds  to  the  praise,  and  the 
joy,  of  the  Divine  Husbandman.  By  the  same  means 
of  fruitfulness,  moreover,  we  'become  Christ's  disci- 
ples' {v.  8  R.  v.).  "Something  is  always  wanting  to 
the  completeness  of  discipleship.  A  Christian  never 
'is,'  but  always  is  ^becoming'  a  Christian  and  it  is  by 
his  fruitfulness  that  he  vindicates  his  claim  to  the 
name."  Besides,  we  must  accept  the  challenge  which 
our  Saviour  offers  us  when  He  says,  "Even  as  the 
Father  hath  loved  Me,  I  also  have  loved  you ;  abide  ye 


SAINT  JOHN  193 


in  my  love"  {v.  9  R.  V.).  If  we  are  living  in  the  light 
and  warmth  of  Jesus'  Charity  we  cannot  but  be  fruitful. 

Let  us  then  be  discontented  with  our  productiveness. 
Our  Lord  was  not  satisfied  even  with  His  eleven  great 
Saints.  He  spoke  as  if  they  had  made  small  progress 
even  in  knowing  Him,  saying,  "If  ye  had  known  Me," 
implying  that  even  after  all  the  revelations  of  their 
years  with  Him,  their  knowledge  of  His  Personality 
was  still  far  from  complete  (xiv  :  7) .  Again,  He  urged 
them  to  aspire  after  greater  devotion  to  Him,  saying, 
'7/  ye  loved  Me," — suggesting  that  He  wanted  them 
to  consider  the  great  love  they  already  had  for  Him  as 
nothing  (xiv:  28).  But  what  must  He  think  of  our 
complacent  contentment  with  our  slight  knowledge  of 
Him,  and  with  that  feeble  affection  which  is  our  best 
response  to  His  Divine  love? 

Yet,  for  all  our  disappointing  dullness,  our  Lord  is 
invincibly  optimistic  about  us.  Immediately  after  He 
had  clearly  seen  the  failure  of  the  Apostles  to  discern 
the  Father  in  Him,  He  said  with  perfect  confidence, 
'From  nozv  on  ye  know  Him,  and  have  seen  Him.' 
Moreover,  He  recognizes  and  values  to  the  full  even 
our  imperfect  response  to  Him.  'Ye  hear  My  Word,' 
He  said  to  the  eleven ;  and  again  He  relied  upon  His 
Own  'beholding  Him'  after  He  had  departed  from  the 
world's  sight  (xiv:  24,  19).  Finally,  His  patience  with 
our  slowness  is  inexhaustible.  When  it  seemed  that 
after  all  the  Apostles  had  not  attained  to  belief  in  His 
Oneness  with  His  Father  simply  on  His  Word,  He 
was  ready  to  begin  over  again  with  them  at  the  first 
lesson  of  faith :  "Believe  Me,"  He  pleaded,  "that  I  am 
in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  Me;  or  else  believe 
Me  for  the  very  works'  sake"  (xiviii).     Surely,  we 

14 


194  SAINT  JOHN 


must  strive  to  bear  more  and  sweeter  fruit  for  this 
King  of  Divine  Charity  and  Lover  of  our  poor  sinful 
souls.  . 

&atnttia^  in  t^e  £)ctate  ot  j^0cen0ton 

I^raper  anH  £Dur  SecenUeH  Hort 

"If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide  in  you,  ask 
whatsoever  ye  will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 
Thus  did  dear  Jesus  reveal  to  us  the  spirit  of  prayer. 
**The  petitions  of  the  true  disciples  are  echoes  of 
Christ's  words."  Whether  our  prayer  be  supplication 
for  temporal  or  spiritual  benefits,  intercession,  thanks- 
givingf  or  worship,  it  must  always  be  in  harmony  with 
His  teaching  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  on  this  sole 
condition,  we  can  be  absolutely  certain  that  our  devo- 
tion obtains  a  full  and  overflowing  response  from 
Infinite  Love. 

For  with  our  prayers  are  joined  those  of  our 
Saviour,  Who  ''ever  liveth  to  make  intercession"  for 
us  (Heb.  vii:25).  What  loving  solicitude  fills  His 
continual  prayer,  we  know  from  that  which  He  ofiFered 
in  the  Temple  (xvii).  But.  not  content  with  assuring 
us  that  He  is  forever  lifting  up  those  pierced  Hands 
on  our  behalf.  He  has  revealed  to  us  certain  ways  in 
which  we  can  touch  His  Sacred  Heart  to  plead  for  us 
with  special  tenderness:  (i)  by  loving  and  obeying 
Him  (xiv:i4f.);  (2)  by  faith  in  Him  as  our  God 
and  Saviour  (xvii:  6-9)  ;  (3)  by  especial  need  of  Him 
(xvii:  11-16)  ;  (4)  by  unworldliness  (xvii :  14-16). 
One  more  means  there  is  of  making  Him  intercede 
most  earnestly  for  us,  but  this  we  must  never  use.  It 
is  by  falling  into  mortal  sin  ( i  St.  John  ii :  i ) . 

The  supreme  assistance  of  our  risen  Lord  is,  how- 


SAINT  JOHN  195 


ever,  through  the  perpetual  re-petition  of  Calvary 
which  He  makes  upon  His  altar  throne  (Rev.  v:6). 
For  by  His  very  Presence  in  Heaven  He  continually 
memorializes  before  the  Father  what  He  did  for  our 
salvation  on  the  Cross.  Our  prayers  must  be  effectual 
with  this  Divine  High  Priest  to  plead  them  at  His 
Heavenly  Altar.  Let  us  then,  praying  ''through  Jesus 
Christ,"  take  the  Heart  of  Gk)d  by  storm,  for  ourselves 
and  for  all  who  need  our  intercessions. 


feuntia^  in  tlie  jQDctabe  oC  ^0ctn0ion 

flDur  e|)rii8tian  Jfop  ipuIfilleU 

It  was  only  when  our  Lord  reached  the  very  eve  of 
Good  Friday  that  He  spoke  of  'His  joy'  (v.w).  He 
was  then  looking  forward  to  showing  that  supreme 
love  of  the  man  who  lays  down  his  life  for  his  friends 
{v.  13)  ;  and  His  gladness  in  thus  loving  us  to  the 
uttermost  was  His  characteristic  joy.  Ours  He  knew 
would  be  more  natural  and  more  composite  than  His 
own  unmixed  heroic  happiness  in  Self-sacrifice.  But 
He  desired  that  His  joy  should  have  a  place  in  us  in 
order  that  ours  might  be  sweetened  and  sanctified. 

Second  only  to  His  example  in  thus  preferring  the 
happiness  of  complete  Self-oblation  to  all  others,  is 
that  of  His  holy  Forerunner  (iii:29).  For  it  was  as 
the  Baptist  stood  on  the  brink  of  his  passion,  with  his 
ministry  ending  in  failure  before  his  eyes,  and  face  to 
face  with  imprisonment  and  death,  that  he  said,  "My 
joy  is  fulfilled." 

It  is  the  aged  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  who 
alone  records  these  sayings  of  his  first  master  and  of 
his   eternal   King.    In   his   long   experience,   he  had 


1%  SAINT  JOHN 


learned  his  lesson,  that  natural  happiness  turns  stale 
and  bitter  if  it  be  not  mingled  with  some  measure  of 
the  joy  of  self-sacrifice.  He  tells  us,  moreover,  that 
our  Ascended  Lord  looks  upon  us  as  His  "friends" 
{y.  14),  and  surely  there  can  be  no  such  felicity  as 
that  which  belongs  to  the  friends  of  God.  But  it 
means  that  He  counts  every  faithful  Christian  as  an 
Abraham  (St.  James  ii:  23)  ;  and  as  the  Father  of  the 
Faithful  had,  there  on  the  Temple  Mount,  been  will- 
ing to  offer  what  He  loved  best,  so  must  we  be.  Then 
our  joy  shall  be  fulfilled,  though  like  St.  John,  we  are 
lonely  and  old  and  persecuted,  for  we  shall  be  the 
friends  of  the  Crucified  in  Heaven. 

9?ontiap  in  t^e  flDctabe  ^i  ^^nxK^i^n 

£Dur  i^atreD  snt)  Hobe  of  t^e  ^orlH 

Twice  over,  and  the  second  time  during  the  solemn 
hour  in  the  Temple,  Christ  told  the  Eleven  that  the 
world  hated  him,  and  warned  them  that  they  must 
expect  to  be  the  object  of  its  hostility  just  as  He  had 
been  {w.  18  f.,  cp.  vii:7).  The  sixfold  repetition  of 
''the  world"  in  His  statement  brings  out  its  multiform 
antipathy  to  Him  and  to  His  Church.  He  emphasizes, 
also,  the  fact  that  it  hated  Him  "without  a  cause''  {v. 
25),  by  using  the  same  word  for  this  which  had  ex- 
pressed "the  gift  of  God"  to  man  (iv:  10).  He  came 
iDringing  to  the  world  God's  gratuitous  love  and  grace, 
and  it  repaid  Him  with  gratuitous  hatred  and  a  Cross. 

Yet  His  Heart  was  full  of  Divine  charity  for  it, 
still.  It  was  because  he  knew  this,  that  St.  Jude  ex- 
claimed in  amazement  over  His  saying  that  He  would 
manifest  Himself  unto  His  Own,  and  not  unto  the 


SAINT  JOHN  197 


world  (xiv:  22  ff.).  He  felt  certain  that  Christ  longed 
to  reveal  Himself  to  all  mankind.  For  had  not  his 
Master  said  again  and  again  that  He  loved  the  whole 
world  and  had  come  to  save  it?  (iii:  14  ff. ;  xii:47.) 
And  was  it  not  a  prophecy  about  the  Messiah  that  He 
need  only  ask  and  His  Father  would  give  Him  the 
heathen  for  His  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth  for  His  possession?  (Ps.  ii:8.)  Many  a 
night,  as  he  knew,  his  Lord  had  spent  on  His  knees 
praying  for  the  fulfillment  of  that  promise.  St.  Jude 
was  right  in  his  assurance  that  there  was  no  lack  in 
His  infinite  longing  for  the  salvation  of  every  soul 
which  comes  into  the  world  (i  St.  Tim.  ii:4). 

But  the  world  would  not  receive  its  Saviour.  It  was 
not  the  Pharisees,  or  Pilate,  who  led  in  dealing  out  to 
Him  the  most  shameful  of  capital  punishments ;  it  was 
the  Sadducees,  the  representatives  of  the  world-spirit, 
who  cajoled  and  bullied  the  others  into  assisting  them. 
How,  then,  can  we  love  that  which  has  ever  hated  our 
Head?  How  can  we  adopt  its  anti-Christian  conven- 
tions and  fashions?  We  cannot  be  Jesus'  friends,  if 
we  do  not  hate  the  sin  of  the  world,  and  seek  the 
salvation  of  every  sinner  in  it. 

'arueotiap  in  tfie  flDctabe  of  mttx^mn 

Slabejj  /f9ot  Greater  S|)an  Cl)eir  Kinc; 

Both  our  Lord  and  His  Beloved  Disciple  have  laid 
great  emphasis  on  that  saying  of  Christ,  "The  servant 
is  not  greater  than  his  Lord."  As  precious  and  crowd- 
ed as  the  interval  was  before  His  arrest.  He  repeated 
it  solemnly  then,  although  He  had  said  it  in  the  Upper 
Room    {v.    20,   cp.    xiii:i6).    St.   John   records   His 


198  SAINT  JOHN 


words  on  both  occasions,  although  St.  Matthew  and 
St.  Luke  had  both  given  them ;  and  he  alone  uses  for 
"servant"  the  strong  word  "slave."  He  had  looked  up 
through  a  rift  in  Heaven  and  had  seen  the  Slave  of 
the  Universe  seated  upon  the  Throne  of  God.  After 
that  the  servile  title  for  a  disciple  was  royal  and 
Divine. 

It  was  in  order  to  commend  to  us  precepts  which  He 
knew  would  be  very  much  against  our  natural  self- 
love,  that  our  Saviour  directed  us  to  imitate  His  own 
humility  and  meekness.  First,  then,  we  must  wel- 
come the  opportunity  to  perform  menial  services  for 
our  brethren.  St.  Peter  particularly,  always  bore  in 
mind  the  lesson  which  he  had  learned  when  God  In- 
carnate had  bathed  his  feet.  Long  afterward,  remem- 
being  Jesus  girded  with  a  towel,  he  thus  exhorted  his 
clergy :  "All  of  you  gird  yourselves,"  or,  literally,  "be 
aproned,"  "with  humility,  to  serve  one  another."  Sec- 
ondly, we  must  bear  ill  treatment  with  patience.  It 
was  a  very  dear  and  helpful  thought  to  St.  John  and 
his  people,  expecting  the  terrible  Domitian  persecution, 
that  their  Lord  had,  on  the  brink  of  His  own  Passion, 
shown  His  perfect  meekness  in  bearing  the  injuries  of 
His  enemies. 

The  last  of  the  three  great  lessons  which  the  Divine 
Servant  taught  His  fellows,  was  given  at  the  begin- 
ning of  their  discipleship,  and  was  different  from  these, 
although  related  to  them  (St.  Luke  vi:4o).  For  then 
He  had  used  His  familiar  exhortation  to  enforce  the 
truth  that  their  disciples  would  not  rise  above  them- 
selves in  the  Christian  virtues.  He  would  teach  us  that 
we  must  strive  to  imitate  our  Master  in  Heaven,  not 
only  for  His  glory  and  our  own  soul's  sake,  but  also 


SAINT  JOHN  199 


for  the  welfare  of  those  whom  we  instruct  by  word  and 
example.  The  Christian  is  to  be,  himself,  a  master  to 
his  weaker  or  less  fortunate  brethren,  and  by  his  own 
lowliness  and  love  **to  ring  the  rising-bell  in  the  dor- 
mitory of  other  souls."       ^ 

dcaetine^tiap  in  X\z  flDctatie  ot  ^^cen^fon 

fl)ur  321iitne)3i9  to  C^rtist 

There  is  no  glory  of  our  Christian  life  greater  than 
that  which  is  conferred  upon  us  by  our  privilege,  and 
duty,  of  bearing  witness  to  our  ascended  Lord.  This 
is  Divine  work,  in  which  He  even  associates  us  with 
the  Blessed  Trinity;  for  the  Father  "hath  borne  wit- 
ness of  Him,"  He  'bore  record'  of  Himself,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  continually  ''beareth  witness"  of  Him  (cp. 
v:37;  viii:  14;  v.  26  i.).  For  us  to  confess  Him  in 
our  personal  life  and  teaching  is  thus  to  join  in  a  Di- 
vine Chorus.  But  Jesus  associates  us  in  this  especially 
with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Our  testimony,  which  is  exter- 
nal, is  the  counterpart  of  that  interior  illumination  of 
His  whereby  He  takes  of  Christ's  and  shows  it  unto 
the  Church  (xvi:  14). 

Accordingly  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  im- 
portance to  our  Lord  of  what  we  are,  because  the  wit- 
ness of  a  genuine  Christian  life  is  more  convincing  to 
the  world  than  that  of  the  inspired  Bible  and  the  in- 
fallible Catholic  Church. 

Yet,  our  Christian  character  is  only  in  the  making, 
and  we  are  not  to  consider  it  a  failure  when  it  seems 
to  compare  unfavorably  with  pagan  types  around  us. 
It  is  a  much  more  difficult  thing,  at  first,  to  possess 
both  courage  and  meekness,  efficiency  and  humility, 
and  to  reconcile  them  in  speech  and  conduct,  than  it  is 


200  SAINT  JOHN 


to  be  simply  keen,  self-reliant,  successful  people  of  the 
world.  Thus  Cephas  displayed  natural  courage  and 
loyalty  at  our  Lord's  arrest  (xviii:  lo),  but  when  He 
was  required  to  unite  with  these  qualities  the  Christian 
virtues  of  obedience  and  longsuflPering,  he  deserted  his 
Lord  ignominiously,  and  afterwards  denied  Him  thrice. 
What  a  contrast  to  him  is  Caiaphas,  the  clear-headed, 
masterful,  successful  high  priest  of  the  Jews.  But  the 
Christian  Faith  developed  Cephas  into  the  Stone-man 
and  the  Saint,  whose  life  and  teaching  have  helped  the 
Blessed  Spirit  mightily  in  filling  the  New  Jerusalem 
with  citizens ;  while  Caiaphas  went  down  to  his  grave 
universally  hated  by  his  own  people  and  with  the  curse 
of  the  Talmud  upon  him.    \ 

iFeIIotD!B|)tp  toiti)  Ifesujs  in  i^eaben 

The  call  to  fellowship  with  our  Saviour  is  as  real 
for  us  to-day  as  it  was  for  the  Apostles  and  the  holy 
women.  For  His  very  presence  with  us,  whether  as 
God,  everywhere  we  go,  or  as  the  God-Man,  in  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  constitutes  His  invitation  to  visit 
with  Him.  He  had  only  to  appear  at  Bethany,  and  the 
holy  sisters  felt  that  they  were  summoned  to  Him. 
"The  Master  has  come  and  calleth  for  thee,"  St.  Mar- 
tha said  to  St.  Mary,  when  in  fact  He  had  done  this, 
not  in  words,  but  simply  by  being  in  their  home. 
Moreover,  He  has  told  us  that  He  expects  us  to  "be- 
hold Him"  even  now  when  He  is  throned  in  Heaven. 
And  what  He  means  by  this,  practically,  is  admirably 
interpreted  by  the  Greeks  who  came  to  seek  Him  (xii : 
20  ff.).  For  they  had  begged  that  they  might  "see 
Jesus."    Yet  they  had  been  gazing  at  Him  and  listen- 


SAINT  JOHN  201 


ing  to  His  preaching,  from  a  little  distance.  They 
rightly  considered  that  really  to  see  Him  meant  to 
come  into  His  immediate  Presence  and  lay  their 
thoughts  before  Him.  In  this  same,  true,  sense,  we 
may  behold  Him  as  often  as  we  will. 

It  is  but  honestly  due  to  our  Lord  that  we  should  let 
Him  abide  with  us.  St.  John  impresses  this  dear  duty 
upon  us  in  the  following  way :  he  records  our  Lord's 
comforting  assurance  that  He  has  gone  away  into 
Heaven  in  order  that  He  may  prepare  a  mansion  for 
us,  and  then.  His  gracious,  and  appealing,  promise  that 
He  and  His  Father  will  come  to  the  soul  that  loves 
Him  and  'make  their  mansion'  with  it  (xiv:  2  and  23, 
literally  translated).  He  has  used  in  these  two  sayings 
a  word  for  ''mansion,"  or  "rest-house,"  which  appears 
nowhere  else  in  the  Scriptures,  to  point  his  meaning, 
that  the  dear  Carpenter  is  building  for  each  of  us  a 
palace  in  Heaven  and  asks  in  return  the  hovel  of  our 
sinful  heart. 

Fellowship  with  Him  is  for  us  a  little  foretaste  of 
Heaven.  "Ye,"  said  our  Lord  to  the  Apostles,  "are 
with  Me  from  the  beginning  {v.  2y).  Their  life  at  His 
Side  had  been  a  timeless  present.  There  had  been,  as 
it  were,  no  past  nor  future,  but  an  endless  now.  Their 
hard  life  with  its  labors  and  anxieties,  sufferings  and 
sorrows,  had  been  transfigured  by  light  from  Heaven. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  their  immortality,  because  they 
were  with  Jesus. 


2W  SAINT  JOHN 


Sot  tjje  JFifae  Dapn  iFoIIotoinc*  Read  St.  John  xvi 

JFttda^  Mitt  t&t  iSDctabe  ot  j^^cen^ion 

C|)ri)3t  denHinQ  t|)e  {paraclete 

The  most  difficult  part  of  our  Lord's  labor  in  con- 
soling His  Apostles  was  His  task  of  persuading  them 
that  it  was  expedient  for  them  that  He  should  depart 
to  His  Father  (v.  7).  But,  even  that  night  in  the  Tem- 
ple, He  seems  to  have  been  in  a  measure  successful,  by 
His  glowing  descriptions  of  the  Paraclete  Whom  He 
would  send  to  them  from  Heaven,  for  He  convinced 
them  that  He  must  ascend  to  His  Father  before  He 
could  bestow  that  Divine  Gift  upon  them.  Not  until 
the  whole  process  of  Redemption  had  been  consum- 
mated by  His  Enthronement,  could  the  Spirit-bearing 
Church  be  sent  forth  for  its  work  of  Sanctification. 
Only  after  He  had  been  consecrated  as  the  "Bishop 
of  our  souls"  at  the  Right  Hand  of  His  Father,  could 
He  ordain  the  Apostolic  Ministry  by  the  Pentecostal 
Gift.  And  before  the  end  of  the  first  Eastertide  He 
must  have  completely  won  their  hearts  to  love  of  His 
Holy  Spirit,  for  we  read  that  they  returned  from  bid- 
ding Him  farewell  full  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  (St. 
Luke  xxiv:  52  f.). 

When  we  realize  that  Christ  had  taught  them  to 
think  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  ''another  Comforter"  like 
Himself,  we  are  not  surprised  that  they  looked  for- 
ward with  such  joy  and  eagerness  to  His  coming.  The 
title  "Paraclete"  is  peculiar  to  St.  John,  and  means 
both  a  Comforter,  or  Strengthener,  of  their  souls,  and 
an  Advocate  for  them  and  for  the  success  of  their 
ministry,  before  the  throne  of  God.  So  prodigally  is 
Divine  charity  lavished  upon  us,  that  we  must  have 
two  such  Paracletes,  Christ  and  His  "Other  Self." 


SAINT  JOHN  203 


Our  Saviour  commended  His  Holy  Spirit  to  His 
Church  in  another  way,  also :  He  has  left  it  to  us  to 
reverence  and  honor  the  blessed  Paraclete.  For  He 
said  that  He  glorified  His  Father  and  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  glorifies  Him,  but  He  seems  to  expect  the  Cath- 
olic Church  to  glorify  His  Spirit.  In  the  same  way.  He 
came  in  the  Father's  Name,  and  the  Comforter  was 
sent  in  His;  we,  Christ's  brethren,  have  the  glorious 
vocation  of  going  forth  in  the  Name  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Wot  (^olp  <gl)O0t  Conberting  t^jc  affllorlli 

Not  for  the  faithful  alone  did  Jesus  send  His  Holy 
Spirit  from  His  Human  Heart  in  Heaven  into  the 
heart  of  His  Mystical  Body  on  earth.  The  plan  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity  in  that  Mission  of  the  Advocate  was, 
in  part,  that  He  should  convince  the  world  "of  sin,  and 
of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment,"  in  order  that  it 
might  be  converted  {vv,%-\i').  It  seemed  hopeless  to 
the  Apostles  that  they  could  win  the  hard  hearts  which 
had  rejected  the  pleading,  the  signs  of  Divine  Power 
and  Love,  and  the  attraction  of  the  Personality  of  In- 
carnate God  (xv:  22-26).  Then  our  Lord  promised 
them  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  be  their  mighty  Helper ;  they 
should  have  Two  Paracletes,  Both  infinitely  full  of 
yearning  love  for  souls.  And  the  success  of  this 
doubling  of  the  boundless  measure  of  Divine  assist- 
ance was  apparent  on  Pentecost.  For  the  thousands 
who  had  shouted  "Crucify  Him!  Crucify  Him!"  now 
came  crying,  'Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  to 
be  saved.'  They  were  convicted  of  sin  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  'because  they  had  not  believed  in  the  Lord  of 
Glory'  (Acts  ii :  23,  36). 


204  SAINT  JOHN 


But  many  people,  who  are  convinced  of  sin,  will  not 
admit  the  possibility  of  their  becoming  righteous. 
They  contend  that  the  best  they  can  do  is  to  lead  a 
moderately  good  life,  free  from  most  of  the  greater 
sins.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  continually  convincing  these 
souls,  by  showing  them  the  perfect  Life  of  ''the  Man 
called  Jesus,"  "Who  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as 
we  are,"  and  yet  was  righteous  and  was  accepted  by  the 
Father  {v.  lo).  He  leads  them,  also,  to  consider  the 
holy  lives  of  Christians  who  love  their  invisible 
Saviour,  and  thus  proves  to  them  that  there  must  be 
mysterious  Sacramental  conduits  of  grace  from  His 
Soul  in  Heaven  to  theirs  on  earth. 

Finally,  this  powerful  Advocate  is  daily  persuading 
men  that  there  is  an  inevitable  conflict  between  mate- 
rialism, godless  ambition,  and  irreligion  in  all  its  forms, 
and  God,  by  making  them  realize  that  the  Prince  of 
this  world  was  condemned  from  the  Cross.  For  they 
instinctively  approve  of  the  Crucified ;  they  cannot  say, 
even  to  themselves,  that  they  have  no  sympathy  with 
Him.  But,  by  their  very  confession  that  He  is  the  Per- 
fection of  all  that  is  holy  and  loving,  they  condemn  the 
spirit  of  the  world  which  slew  Him.  The  Cross  shows 
them  the  right  standard  of  success  and  failure,  and  the 
true  issues  of  life  and  death.  Rightly,  therefore,  did 
our  King  bid  us  "Be  of  good  cheer,"  for  by  His  Pas- 
sion, He  has  indeed  "overcome  the  world." 

d)e  ^norrn  ComraHe  of  2Dur  I^il^rimaQe 
Another  of  the  anxieties  which  beset  the  little  group 
of  the  faithful,  gathered  there  in  the  Temple,  was  the 
fear  of  an  unknown  future,  through  which  they  must 


SAINT  JOHN  205 


wander  as  in  a  trackless  wilderness.  Dear  Jesus 
hastened  to  dispel  this  cloud.  They  should  have  a  Di- 
vine Guide,  His  Vicar,  Who  would  reveal  to  them 
His  Mind  and  His  Will  infallibly  {y.  13).  This  com- 
pleted the  gracious  promise  given  them  in  the  Upper 
Room  of  their  'other  Paraclete'  who  was  to  accompany 
them  throughout  their  pilgrimage  (xiv:  16  f.).  Every 
kind  of  comradeship,  possible  even  to  the  Divine  Spirit, 
is  thus  assured  to  the  Church.  For  He  'abides  with  us 
forever,'  as  our  Comforter,  Who  begins  giving  us  His 
eternal  fellowship  even  while  we  are  yet  poor  sinners. 
•Miss  Keller  has  said  that  Love  will  find  a  way  into  the 
minds  even  of  those  who  are  deaf  and  blind.  Has  He, 
Who  is  the  Infinite  Love  of  God,  found  an  entrance 
into  our  consciousness  ?  Do  we  let  Him  comfort  us  in 
trouble?  Do  we,  like  our  Lord,  "rejoice  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,"  in  our  times  of  prosperity?  (St.  Luke  x:2i 
R.  V.) 

Secondly,  'He  abideth  by  our  side,'  during  our  pres- 
ent life  as  our  Advocate,  always  ready  with  His  power- 
ful help.  With  infinite  Personal  devotion  to  His  clients 
He  espouses  their  cause  as  if  it  were  His  own,  defends 
them  from  their  enemies,  gives  them  His  counsel  in 
their  difficulties,  and  acts  as  their  Solicitor  at  the  bar 
of  Heaven. 

Finally  He  is  the  SanctiHer  'Who  is  in  us  for  the 
work  of  our  salvation.  Let  us  try  always  to  remember 
His  Presence  there.  As  St.  Austin  says.  He  is  in  our 
souls,  "not  only  as  the  impetuous  stirring  Wind  of 
heroic  Energy,  nor  only  as  the  Flame  of  Divine  Love, 
but  as  the  Holy  Dove,"  brooding  there  until  we  bring 
forth  the  graces  and  virtues  which  He  loves  (Acts 
ii:  2  f ;  St.  John  i:  32). 


206  SAINT  JOHN 


Qpontiag  in  tfie  Clfll6it0un  iSDctatJt 

%^t  dpirit  of  Supplication? 

In  His  office  as  Sanctifier,  the  Paraclete  must  con- 
vict, not  only  the  world,  but  the  children  of  the 
Church.  We  can  feel  Him  tugging  at  our  consciences, 
seeking  to  convince  us  of  our  sin,  and  to  inspire  us 
with  repentance  and  good  resolutions.  If  we  are  over- 
tender  and  scrupulous,  we  should  receive  great  encour- 
agement from  this  activity  of  the  Divine  Advocate,  for 
we  can  rest  assured  that  He  will  show  us  plainly  if  we 
have  committed  even  venial  sins.  But  if  we  are  dis- 
posed to  think  of  ourselves  as  moderately  good  people 
who  have  done  nothing  which  especially  requires  Di- 
vine forgiveness,  we  must  let  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Love 
lead  us  to  careful,  regular,  examination  of  conscience. 

Yet  we  must  not  rest  contented  with  sinlessness, 
even  if  we  could  attain  to  it  perfectly.  It  has  been 
rightly  said  that  the  blush  of  shame  over  wounding 
Jesus  is  but  the  first  ray  from  the  Rising  Sun  of 
Righteousness.  Nor  will  He  be  satisfied  until  we  are 
filled  with  Divine  Light  and  Love  to  the  fartherest 
corner  of  our  soul.  His  last  care  before  He  left  the 
Temple  to  begin  His  Passion  was  to  pray  His  Father, 
"That  the  love  wherewith  Thou  hast  loved  Me  may  be 
in  them  and  I  in  them"  (xvii:  26). 

Consequently,  He  would  have  us  judge  the  "Prince 
of  this  world"  by  a  life  wholly  dedicated  to  the  love  of 
Him.  "I  pray,"  He  pleaded  in  His  Great  Intercession, 
"that  Thou  shouldest  keep  them  out  of  the  Evil  One" 
(xvii:  15  R.  V.  Marg.).  He  would  have  us  preserved 
from  even  resting  within  the  domain  of  Satan.  And 
through  His  Grace  He  makes  over  to  us  the  victory  by 
which  He  utterly  condemned  the  Earth  Spirit  from  the 


SAINT  JOHN  207 


Cross.  Rightly,  then,  may  we  adopt  the  words  of  a 
saintly  bishop,  and  think  of  dear  Jesus  as  saying  to  u« 
through  the  discourses  and  the  prayer  of  those  early 
hours  of  Good  Friday:  "Ye  are  sharers  of  My  vic- 
tory, consorts  of  My  reign,  and  participants  of  My 
glory."  , 

'ittte^tiap  in  \\t  ^6tt0un  flDctabe 

t2rf)e  spirit  of  ^rutt) 

St.  John,  in  his  practical,  systematic  way,  gives  us, 
out  of  our  Lord's  instructions,  what  we  may  call  the 
Stairway  of  Salvation.  Of  course,  he  teaches  that  the 
first  step  is  the  love  of  Jesus  which  leads  to  jaith. 
Thus,  our  Lord  said  to  His  Apostles,  ''Ye  have  loved 
Me  and  have  believed  that  I  came  out  from  God"  {v. 
2y).  Accordingly,  if  we  are  struggling  with  a  difficult 
doctrine  of  our  religion,  our  best  method  of  approach 
will  be  by  increasing  our  love  of  God,  through  prayer 
and  holy  deeds  for  His  sake.  "The  things  of  men," 
said  Pascal,  "must  be  understood  in  order  to  be  loved, 
but  the  things  of  God  must  be  loved  in  order  to  be 
understood." 

From  faith,  we  ascend  to  more  perfect  knowledge 
of  the  truths  we  have  already  accepted.  "We  have  be- 
lieved, and  know," — this  was  the  Apostles'  sequence 
from  childlike  faith,  based  simply  on  their  Master's 
Word,  to  an  ever  clearer  understanding  of  the  teach- 
ings thus  implicitly  adopted.  Even  if  Divine  truth  is 
perceived  by  a  mind  which  is  not  prepared  for  it  by 
love  and  faith,  such  learning  remains  merely  intellec- 
tual, and  barren.  Both  Caiaphas  and  Christ  agreed 
that  it  was  "expedient"  that  "one  Man  should  die  for 
the  people,"  but  in  the  false  high  priest  the  knowledge 


208  SAINT  JOHN 


of  that  great  truth  brought  forth  naught  but  wicked- 
ness (xi:5o;  v.  7).  The  very  best  and  safest  way, 
therefore,  for  us  to  gain  a  deeper  knowledge  of  a 
Christian  dogma  is  by  lovingly  using  the  spiritual  ex- 
ercises which  are  based  upon  it,  If,  for  example,  we 
would  understand  Divine  forgiveness  better,  let  us 
practice  regular  confession  of  our  sins. 

Increased  knowledge  is  a  step  toward  more  perfect 
prayer.  "In  that  day,"  said  our  Lord,  referring  to  the 
time  following  His  Resurrection,  '*ye  shall  ask  Me  no 
question" ;  and  again  He  said,  "In  that  day  ye  shall 
ask,"  that  is,  'pray,"  "in  My  Name"  {w.  23  R.  V. 
Marg.,  26).  When  their  intellectual  difficulties  had 
been  solved,  He  expected  them  to  use  the  spiritual 
energy  thus  saved  in  their  devotions.  As  we  advance 
in  understanding  our  religion,  are  we  developing  pro- 
portionately in  our  prayer  life? 

Finally,  we  are  to  ascend  from  prayer  into  the 
Beatific  Vision.  *Ask,'  dear  Jesus  urged,  'in  order  that 
your  joy  may  be  fulfilled,'  and  the  original  shows  that 
He  was  then  referring  to  the  perfect  consummation  of 
our  happiness  in  Heaven  {v.  24).  Thus  He  gives  us 
the  principal  rule  governing  Christian  prayer,  which  is, 
that  whatever  we  ask  God  for  must  help  us  on  toward 
seeing  Him  face  to  face  in  Heaven.  This  then  is  His 
Stairway  of  Salvation ;  and  it  is  so  truly  supernatural 
that  we  must  have  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
in  order  to  mount  it.  Dear  Jesu !  Let  thy  good  Spirit 
lead  me  forth  into  the  land  of  righteousness. 


SAINT  JOHN  209 


^l^e  Spirit  of  (UnitE 

Our  best  way  to  help  Christ  obtain  the  answer  to  His 
great  Prayer  for  the  unity  of  the  Church  (z;z/.  i,  21-23) 
is  to  let  the  Holy  Ghost  draw  us  individually  into  closer 
union  with  Him.  In  Jesus,  we  shall  become,  by  grow- 
ing holiness,  ''partakers"  more  and  more  of  the  Mind 
and  Heart  of  God,  so  that  our  misunderstandings, 
prejudices,  and  errors  will  fall  from  us  (2  St.  Pet.  i :  4). 

For,  if  the  unity  of  Christendom  is  to  be  that  for 
which  our  Lord  besought  His  Father,  it  must  be  like 
the  oneness  of  the  Three  Divine  Persons  in  the  Blessed 
Trinity,  a  unity  of  mind,  will  and  nature.  "That  they 
may  be  one  as  We  are,"  so  He  prayed ;  and  again  ''that 
they  all  may  be  one  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I 
in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  Us"  {vv.  11,  21). 
Consequently,  Church  Unity  must  be  based  upon  a 
common  mind  as  to  Divine  truth,  a  common  will  in- 
stinct with  love,  and  a  common  nature  regenerated  in 
Christ  and  nourished  by  the  Sacraments  which  He  and 
His  Apostles  have  ordained. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  best  way  in  which  we  must 
hasten  the  answer  to  what  is  par  excellence  "the 
Lord's  Prayer."  We  must  revive  devotion  to  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  Who  is  the  very  Bond  of  Love  in  the 
Holy  Trinity  Itself,  and  Who  will  unite  us  more  close- 
ly to  God  and  so  to  one  another  in  Christ.  We  have 
an  illustration  of  what  it  means  when  men  allow  them- 
selves to  be  thus  joined  together  in  the  Bond  of  Divine 
Charity,  in  the  harmony  which  existed  among  the  three 
Apostles,  at  one  time  imprisoned  together  at  Rome. 
St.  Peter,  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  were  very  different 
in  temperament ;  each  one  was  in  fact  as  unique  a  per- 

15 


210  SAINT  JOHN 


sonality  as  could  be  found  in  the  calendar,  and  the 
Saints  are  the  most  individual  of  people.  Yet,  through 
their  common  relation  to  Christ,  they  had  become  one 
in  ''Spirit"  with  Him  and  with  one  another,  so  that 
their  differences  were  submerged.  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  "exchanged  pulpits" ;  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles 
wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  who  were  St.  Peter's 
parishioners,  and  the  Apostle  to  the  Circumcision 
wrote  his  two  letters  to  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor, 
founded  by  St.  Paul.  St.  John  deepened  his  already 
great  love  for  St.  Peter,  and  adopted  many  of  St. 
Paul's  characteristic  conceptions,  giving  his  own  in 
return,  as  we  can  see  from  their  writings.  Then,  let 
us  begin  now  to  speed  the  day  of  Christian  reunion, 
by  realizing,  in  thought  and  action,  as  never  before, 
the  truth  that  we  are  ''joined  unto  the  Lord"  and  "are 
one  Spirit"  with  Him  and  with  one  another  (i  Cor. 
vi:i7).  ^ 

^gut0tia^  in  ti^e  (lQl|)it0un  €)ctabr 

S|)e  Spirit  of  I^rapet 

Our  Saviour's  Highpriestly  Intercession  was  no 
doubt  in  Aramaic,  and  the  word  by  which  He  ad- 
dressed His  Father  was  therefore  "Abba"  just  as  it 
was  in  Gethsemane  (St.  Mark  xiv  :  36).  But  we  could 
not  well  have  a  more  complete  contrast  than  that  be- 
tween the  erect,  severe,  majestic  Priest  with  Hands  and 
Eyes  lifted  toward  Heaven,  and  the  stricken  Sufferer 
in  the  Garden,  lying  prostrate  upon  the  earth,  while 
the  Sweat  of  Blood  poured  down  from  His  whole 
Body.  Whether  in  the  depths  of  awful  affliction,  or 
in  calm  repose  among  His  Own,  He  was  the  same  true 
and  perfect  Son  of  God.    Now  He  sends  His  Holy 


SAINT  JOHN  211 


Spirit  from  His  Heart  unto  ours,  crying  "Abba, 
Father,"  both  in  our  seasons  of  joyful  thanksgiving 
and  in  those  times  when  "deep  calleth  unto  Deep" 
(Gal.  iv:6;  Ps.  xlii:7). 

It  is  often  made  an  objection  to  prayer,  that  our 
Father  knows  all  that  we  need  before  we  ask  Him, 
and  that  our  petitions  are,  therefore,  superfluous.  But 
Jesus  prayed  for  that  which  had  been  eternally  His  own 
and  for  the  due  reward  of  all  His  labors  and  suffer- 
ings in  the  world.  "And  now,  O  Father,"  was  the  one 
petition,  "glorify  Thou  Me  with  Thine  Own  Self  with 
the  glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world 
was";  and  the  other  was,  'Glorify  Thy  Son  (through 
His  Passion  and  Resurrection)'  {w.  5,  i).  Evidently, 
the  Christian  ought  to  ask  His  Heavenly  Father  even 
for  what  he  would  certainly  receive  if  he  never  bent 
his  knees  in  prayer. 

So  vast  is  the  importance  of  our  devotional  life,  and 
so  full  is  it  of  power  to  comfort  and  strengthen  us 
that  our  Lord  purposely  said  His  great  Intercession 
aloud,  in  order  that  the  Apostles  might  learn  the  sacred 
science  of  it  and  thus  be  always  able,  wherever  they 
should  wander,  to  claim  His  own  joy  for  themselves 
at  will.  "These  things  I  speak  in  the  world,"  He  said 
to  His  Father,  "that  they  might  have  my  joy  fulfilled 
in  themselves"  {v.  13).  Indeed,  it  was  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Incarnation,  that  God  willed  to  set  us  the 
example  by  praying  with  our  own  human  Heart  and 
Lips. 


SAINT  JOHN 


JFtitia?  in  ti^e  COi^itdun  ^ctabe 

Wcft  spirit  of  dons^ip 

He  Who  was  the  Only-begotten  of  God  is  surely  the 
very  Incarnation  of  the  spirit  of  sonship.  And  Jesus 
attributed  everything  He  possessed,  except  the  essen- 
tial glory  of  His  Deity,  to  the  gift  of  His  Father.  The 
list  which  He  mentioned  gratefully  in  this  one  prayer 
includes  the  following:  (i)  The  Father's  Name,  (2) 
power  over  all  flesh,  (3)  the  vocation  to  evangelize 
the  whole  world,  together  with  the  words  He  was  to 
speak,  and  the  endowment  of  all  things  necessary  for 
this  work,  (4)  the  Apostles,  (5)  the  Church,  collec- 
tively and  individually,  and  (6)  the  additional  glory 
which  He  had  merited  for  His  Manhood.  It  is  funda- 
mental for  the  children  of  God,  therefore,  that  we  are 
to  ascribe  absolutely  all  we  have  to  our  Father. 

Nothing  would  satisfy  Him  except  that  He  should 
perfectly  identify  us  with  Himself  in  God's  sight.  He 
repeated  again  and  again,  in  the  direct  form  and  its 
converse,  that  we  belong  to  Him,  and,  in  Him,  to  His 
Father.  "They  are  Thine,"  He  pleads,  ''and  all  Mine 
are  Thine,  and  all  Thine  are  Mine" ;  and  again,  "They 
are  not  of  the  world  even  as  I  am  not  of  the  world" 
{w.  9,  10,  16).  Once  more,  He  said,  "As  Thou  hast 
sent  Me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them 
into  the  world";  so  that  the  Heavenly  Father  would 
regard  us  as  having  the  same  mission,  needs  and  dan- 
gers as  those  of  His  own  Ministry  {y.  18).  Finally, 
He  claims  for  us  that  He  has  shared  with  us  the  glory 
of  revealing  God  in  the  world,  and  that  He  will  be 
glorified  in  our  lives  {w.  10,  22).  We  ought  always 
to  think  of  Him,  in  Heaven,  commending  us  in  this 


SAINT  JOHN  213 


way  to  the  Father,  so  that  He  gains  for  us  a  share  of 
His  Own  Fihal  prestige. 

We  know  from  His  High-priestly  Prayer  that  this 
is  very  frequently  His  petition  for  us  in  His  continual 
intercessions  :  "Father,  keep  them  in  Thy  Name  which 
Thou  hast  given  Me"  (z/.  1 1  A.  V.  Marg.) .  The  Name 
of  God  is  His  Character,  or  Personality,  which  was 
revealed  in  our  Lord ;  and  for  the  Father  to  "keep"  us 
in  this  Name  means  that  He  enables  us  to  live  in  the 
world  as  He  is  in  Heaven  (i  St.  John  iv :  17).  While 
the  Good  Shepherd  was  on  earth,  He  "kept"  His  Own 
and  "guarded"  them  in  this  Name  {y.  12)  ;  and  this 
must  still  be  His  continual  care  for  our  souls.  But 
the  principal  means  by  which  He  now  makes  us  true 
children  of  God,  manifesting  the  "Name"  of  our 
Heavenly  Father,  is  by  sending  His  own  blessed  Spirit 
of  Sonship  from  His  Heart  into  ours  (Gal.  iv:  6). 

&aturtia^  in  t6e  ClOfiitgfun  flDctabe 

Wc)Z  Spirit  of  (Srace  anU  of  ^lor? 

Jesus'  plan,  as  He  reveals  it  in  His  Prayer  of  Con- 
secration, was  to  consecrate  Himself,  through  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  order  that  His  disciples  might  likewise  be 
consecrated,  and  through  them  the  world  be  won  {v, 
19).  Evidently,  then,  there  are  two  motives  which 
compel  us  to  cooperate  with  Him:  First,  since  He  is 
a  Priest  with  the  whole  world  for  His  parish,  He  must 
have  Sacraments  of  Love  by  which  to  nourish  the  souls 
of  men.  Secondly,  through  our  consecration,  the  dear 
Saviour  Who  has  given  us  His  Life  that  we  may  be 
glorified  eternally  in  Him,  is  glorified  eternally  in  us 
through  our  manifesting  that  Life  to  others  {v.  10). 
It   is   mainly   through   our  consecration   that  God   is 


214  SAINT  JOHN 


enabled  to  reveal  Himself  to  the  world.  This  is  what 
Jesus  meant  when  He  said,  "The  glory  which  Thou 
hast  given  Me,  I  have  given  them"  {v.  22)  ;  for  the 
glory  which  He  shares  with  us  is  "the  revelation  of 
the  Divine  in  man." 

The  Greek  word  which  translates  the  one  our  Lord 
used  for  "consecrate,"  or  "sanctify,"  means  to  "set 
apart  for  God."  It  is  one  fundamental  condition, 
therefore,  of  our  dedication  to  our  Lord's  Service,  that 
it  must  be  whole-hearted.  Thus  Christ  could  ask  for 
the  consecration  of  the  Apostles  only  because  'they 
were  not  of  the  world,  even  as  He  was  not  of  the 
world.'  The  other  essential  of  consecration  is  that  we 
must  be  sanctified  "in  the  truth"  which  is  God's  Word 
through  Christ,  or,  in  other  words  the  whole  Faith  of 
His  Church  {yv.  16  f.). 

If  we  permit  Him  thus  to  consecrate  us,  by  His 
Spirit,  as  "other  Christs"  in  this  dark  world,  we  shall 
be  with  Him  and  behold  His  Divine  loveliness  in  Eter- 
nal Day.  "Father,"  He  said,  "I  will  that  they  also, 
whom  Thou  hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me  where  I  am, 
that  they  may  behold  My  glory"  {v.  24).  For  the 
only  time,  it  seems,  in  all  His  Ministry,  He  declared  to 
His  Father  what  He  willed.  Later,  in  Gethsemane, 
where  His  Own  welfare  was  in  danger.  He  prayed, 
"Not  My  Will  but  Thine  be  done."  But  then,  because 
it  was  our  eternal  happiness  which  was  in  question.  He 
left  off  from  prayer  to  declare  His  Divine  Will  for  our 
salvation.  Our  Christian  hope  is  sure,  therefore;  it 
is  based  upon  the  very  Will  of  God,  Which  is  love. 
Let  us  conclude  this  doctrinal  half  of  our  Church  Year 
by  reciting  the  children's  Act  of  Hope:  "My  God,  I 
hope  in  Thee  for  grace  and  for  glory,  because  of  Thy 
mercy.  Thy  promises  and  Thy  power." 


SAINT  JOHN  215 


l^aMion  32Sfe6*  Read  St.  John  xviii 

Pa00ion  &untia^ 

W^t  Dibine  (Victim 

By  many  unobtrusive  touches,  St.  John  seeks  to 
bring  before  us  the  Deity  of  Christ  in  His  Passion. 
He  alone  among  the  Evangelists  speaks  of  His  cross- 
ing the  Brook  Kidron,  or,  more  correctly,  the  Ravine 
of  the  Cedars ;  and  his  purpose  in  this  is  to  remind  us 
of  David,  a  type  of  our  Lord,  fleeing  from  his  traitor- 
ous son  by  that  very  path.  Again,  he  suggests  that 
this  Second  Adam  entered  a  garden  to  suffer  betrayal 
by  His  enemy  and  so  to  rescue  our  race  from  the 
results  of  the  First  Man's  betrayal  in  Eden.  As  the 
progenitor  of  our  corrupted  humanity  had  fallen  in  a 
garden,  the  Father  of  our  regenerated  nature  would 
lift  Him  up,  there.  In  a  word,  our  Evangelist  leads 
us  to  regard  Jesus  as  the  Divine  Saviour  prefigured 
from  the  first,  and  throughout  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures.  Moreover,  he  shows  us  that  God  was  over- 
ruling the  devices  of  the  Jews  and  bringing  in  the 
Divine  order  even  through  their  machinations :  "Jesus 
therefore,"  he  says,  "knowing  all  the  things  that  were 
coming  upon  Him,  went  forth"  to  meet  His  enemies 
and  fulfill  His  own  plan  for  our  salvation  {y.  4). 

In  order  to  arrest  this  one,  unresisting  Man,  the 
high  priests  had  obtained  a  cohort,  600  soldiers,  be- 
sides sending  two  bands  of  their  own  officers.  Yet, 
He  needed  to  speak  only  the  two  words,  "I  am,"  and 
the  whole  band  fell  prostrate  at  His  feet.  This  and 
the  healing  of  Malchus'  ear  were  two  last  signs  of  His 
Deity  which  He  gave  His  Apostles  in  order  that  their 
faith  might  not  fail  when  they  saw  Him  die  the  death 
of  a  criminal  slave. 


216  SAINT  JOHN 


Royal,  Divine,  as  He  was,  we  must  bear  in  mind 
with  deep  and  tender  devotion  that  it  cost  Him  dear 
to  take  upon  Him  all  the  sin  of  mankind  from  Adam 
unto  the  last  men  who  shall  witness  His  Second  Ad- 
vent. For  three  hours  He  struggled  in  Gethsemane, 
before  He  could  stagger  to  His  Feet  under  that  dread 
universe  of  wickedness.  As  St.  Austin  says,  ''He 
groaned.  He  wept.  He  cried  aloud.  How  difficult  is  it 
for  Him  to  rise  up  Who  is  weighted  down  by  such  a 
mass  of  inveterate  evil."  Surely  He  deserves  our 
whole  hearts,  by  the  double  claim  of  His  Deity  which 
loved  us  infinitely  well,  and  of  His  Humanity,  which 
bore  our  sins  upon  the  Tree  of  shame. 

^ontia^  in  ^a00ton  Witt\ 

A  flood  of  light  is  cast  upon  our  Lord's  Passion  by 
two  notes  which  St.  John  gives  us:  that  Christ  ''went 
forth  over  the  Ravine  of  the  Cedars,"  and  that,  after 
His  arrest,  He  was  led  to  Annas  first  {yv.  i,  R,  V. 
Marg.,  13).  For,  just  across  the  Kidron,  stood  two 
cedars  under  which  were  built  the  spacious  "booths  of 
the  sons  of  Annas" ;  and  it  is  from  these  trees  that  our 
Evangelist  significantly  names  the  valley  the  "Ravine 
of  the  Cedars."  The  buildings  belonged  to  a  kind  of 
corporation,  headed  by  the  unscrupulous  old  high 
priest,  which  had  a  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  doves  for 
sacrifice.  They  stood  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  not  far 
from  Gethsemane ;  and  very  probably  it  was  here  that 
our  Lord  endured  the  first  of  the  seven  false  trials. 
It  would  be  a  savage  joy  to  the  "sons  of  Annas," 
whose  whispers  of  false  witness  are  cursed  by  the  Tal- 


SAINT  JOHN  217 


mud  as  being  the  hissings  of  deadly  serpents,  to  tor- 
ture Jesus.  For  He  had  twice  broken  up  their  lucra- 
tive sale  of  doves, — to  the  poor,  at  extortionate  prices. 

It  was  thus  the  world,  with  its  greed  of  money  and 
power  and  its  unscrupulous  craft,  which  was  the  most 
relentless  enemy  of  our  Lord.  But  the  high  priests 
would  probably  have  been  harmless  without  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Pharisees,  who  hated  their  own  Messiah 
because  He  rebuked  them  for  loveless  formalism  and 
bigotry  and  pride.  If  it  was  the  world  which  cruci- 
fied Jesus  in  order  to  conserve  its  "business  interests," 
it  was  aided  by  the  Church  of  God,  grown  compliant 
toward  the  world  and  cold  toward  Him. 

The  other  principal  ally  of  the  high  priests'  party 
was  Pilate,  who  represents  weak  people,  of  good  in- 
tentions, but  with  also  a  willingness  to  compromise 
with  the  world  and  placate  it.  By  every  expedient  he 
could  devise,  he  strove  to  win  the  consent  of  the  false 
accusers  to  what  he  knew  was  a  simple  act  of  justice. 
The  folly  of  such  half -measures  with  Jesus'  mortal 
enemies,  however,  appears  from  the  fact  that  they 
served  only  to  embolden  and  enrage  the  Jews,  until 
they  demanded  the  most  disgraceful  and  agonizing  of 
all  death  penalties.  Evidently,  if  we  are  to  keep  Jesus 
safe  from  crucifixion  in  our  hearts,  we  must  declare  a 
war  against  His  foes,  in  which  there  shall  be  no  quar- 
ter given,  and  no  discharge  during  this  life. 

^ixt^hav  in  ^Si00ion  Wtt%, 

^U  ©eter  anU  ^U  3[ol)n 

When  our  Lord  announced  again,  on  the  way  to 
Gethsemane,  that  all  of  His  Apostles  would  be  offend- 
ed because  of  Him,  and  would  scatter  from  His  side, 


218  SAINT  JOHN 


that  night,  there  was  a  general  murmur  of  protest  (St. 
Matt,  xxvi :  35 ) .  But,  as  in  the  Upper  Room,  it  was 
St.  Peter  who  vehemently  insisted  that  he  would  go 
with  his  Master  to  prison  and  death  (St.  John  xiii: 
36-38).  St.  John  remained  silent;  yet  it  was  he  who 
continued  steadfastly  at  our  Lord's  side.  For  we  know 
from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  what  passed  even  at 
the  private  interviews  of  Pilate  with  Jesus,  that  he 
continued  with  Him  throughout  the  Acts  of  His  Pas- 
sion, from  Gethsemane  to  Calvary.  What  a  consola- 
tion it  is  to  know  that  our  Saviour  had  the  unspeakable 
comfort  of  His  Beloved  Disciple's  fellowship  and  sym- 
pathy during  His  sufferings !  But  each  one  of  us  is 
the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loves,  and  we  will  abide  with 
Him  faithfully,  if  we  accept  his  rebukes  in  humble 
silence. 

After  St.  Peter  had  fled  a  little  distance  from  Christ, 
he  recovered  Himself,  and  ''followed  Him  afar  off  to 
the  court  of  the  high  priest"  (St.  Matt,  xxvi:  58). 
That  was  the  second  mistake  of  the  dear,  loving, 
bungling  Apostle.  He  remained  at  a  distance  from 
Divine  protection,  when  he  was  about  to  be  sorely 
tempted.  St.  John  kept  close  to  Christ.  He  also  was 
tempted  to  deny  his  Master,  for  he  was  known  to  the 
household  of  the  high  priest,  and  everywhere  he  looked 
he  met  the  glance  of  ridicule  and  the  curling  lip  of 
scorn,  because  he  was  the  friend  of  the  despised  Naza- 
rene.  His  prospects,  his  prestige  in  the  palace,  were 
being  ruined,  he  knew.  Yet  not  once  did  he  falter  be- 
cause he  was  being  constantly  inflamed  at  the  Divine 
Furnace  in  Jesus'  Heart. 

He  is  beautifully  true  to  his  character  as  the  Apos- 
tle of  Love  in  his  care  to  avoid  mentioning  the  ugly 
details  about  St.  Peter's  denials  and  to  excuse  him  as 


SAII^TJOHN  219 


well  as  he  can.  Thus  he  omits  the  oaths  and  curses; 
and  is  careful  to  show  that  the  form  of  the  questions 
put  to  the  older  Apostle  were  such  as  to  indicate  the 
disloyal  answers.  Besides,  he  tells  us  that  the  servants 
and  officers  were  standing  around  when  the  maid- 
servant first  asked  him  if  he  was  not  Jesus'  disciple; 
that  the  second  time  he  was  pressed  by  more  than  one ; 
and  that,  on  the  last  occasion,  he  was  questioned  by  a 
relative  of  Malchus, — all  details  which  must  have 
greatly  increased  his  terror  and  confusion,  and  which 
therefore  mitigated  the  sinfulness  of  his  disloyalty 
{vv.  i8,  25  f.).  Let  us  be  apostles  of  love,  who  sup- 
press our  own  merits,  and  excuse  the  faults  of  our 
brethren.  . 

{1211etine0tia^  m  iBa00ion  dflleefc 

W^t  JFall  of  %U  {^eter 

The  eldest  of  the  Apostles  had  been  plainly  and  re- 
peatedly warned  by  his  Master  that  he  would  not  have 
the  strength  to  resist  temptation  against  his  loyalty, 
that  night.  Yet  he  ventured  to  place  himself  in  the 
way  of  a  severe  spiritual  trial,  in  the  midst  of  his  ene- 
mies and  apart  from  the  protection  of  his  Lord.  This 
error  is  indicated  by  St.  John,  for  our  warning,  by 
the  word  which  he  has  chosen  for  the  "court"  of  the 
high  priests'  residence ;  for  it  is  the  same  as  that  which 
he  uses  for  the  sheepfold  of  the  Good  Shepherd  {v. 
15  R.  v.,  cp.  x:  I,  16).  How  often  our  overmastering 
temptations  have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  we  had  gone 
into  the  company  of  those  who  would  weaken  our 
faith  and  cool  our  love  instead  of  into  the  flock  of  our 
true  Pastor! 

The  dispositions  of  St.   Peter  were  exactly  those 


220  SAINT  JOHN 


which  prepare  a  soul  for  grave  sin.  For,  first,  he 
yielded  to  depression.  As  St.  Matthew  tells  us,  he 
seated  himself  with  the  servants  who  had  arrested  his 
Lord  "to  see  the  end" ;  he  had  given  up  all  hope.  Sec- 
ondly, he  gave  way  to  a  spirit  of  self-indulgence. 
While  he  knew  that  Christ  was  suffering  both  bodily 
and  spiritual  agony,  he  sat  down  by  the  fire  to  warm 
himself.  Finally,  he  was  restless.  When  St.  John  saw 
him,  he  was  standing  {v.  i8),  but  St.  Luke  and  St. 
Matthew  show  that  at  times  he  was  seated;  hence  it 
appears  that  he  was  constantly  changing  his  position. 
These  then  are  the  steps  which  lead  to  grave  disloy- 
alty: boasting,  keeping  afar  from  Jesus,  depression, 
self-indulgence,  and  restlessness. 

The  question  arises,  however,  as  to  why  St.  John 
narrated  the  fall  of  his  beloved  friend  and  fellow 
Apostle,  especially  since  it  had  been  recorded  substan- 
tially in  the  other  three  Gospels.  The  answer  is  right- 
ly given,  as  follows :  "This  instance  of  human  frailty, 
in  one  so  exalted  (an  instance  which  the  life  of  the 
great  Exemplar  Himself  could  not  afford),  is  given  us 
with  four- fold  emphasis  that  none  may  presume  and 
none  despair."  . 

3ff}5U0  Seefeinc  X\}t  ^afetp  of  £Dt|)cr)8 

While  our  Saviour  voluntarily  surrendered  Himself 
to  the  will  of  His  mortal  foes.  He  took  the  utmost 
care  that  He  should  not  lose  one  of  His  disciples  {vv. 
8f.).  He  had  planned  to  draw  to  Himself  the  atten- 
tion of  the  party  sent  to  arrest  Him,  and  allow  the 
Apostles  to  escape ;  because,  at  that  hour,  just  before 
dawn,  after  the  strain  of  the  most  tragic  of  all  nights, 


SAINT  JOHN  221 


and  in  the  confusion,  terror  and  grief  of  it  all,  He 
knew  that  they  would  not  be  steadfast.  Pursuant  to 
this  purpose  He  immediately  healed  the  wound  of  Mal- 
chus,  in  order  that  St.  Peter  might  escape  arrest;  and 
later,  when  questioned  about  His  disciples  before  the 
high  priest,  He  skillfully  diverted  their  fire  of  insults 
and  blows  against  Himself  (St.  Luke  xxii:5i,  w. 
i9ff.). 

It  is,  however,  His  charity  toward  Judas  which  is 
most  amazing.  St.  John  characteristically  notes,  and 
mentions,  that  the  traitor  was  standing  with  the  Jews 
when  Jesus  said  "I  am"  {v.  5).  Divine  Love  intended 
that  those  words  should  strike  responsive  chords  in  the 
memory  of  the  false  Apostle.  On  what  memorable 
occasions  they  had  been  spoken!  When  He  had  de- 
clared to  the  Jews,  "Ye  shall  die  in  your  sins  if  ye 
believe  not  that  I  am,"  and  ''Before  Abraham  was,  I 
am";  when  He  had  come  to  them  through  the  storm 
on  the  Lake,  saying,  ''I  am,  fear  not !"  And  only  the 
evening  before,  in  the  Upper  Room,  when  He  had  fore- 
told this  very  perfidy  of  Judas  and  had  explained, 
"Now  I  tell  you  before  it  come  to  pass,  that  when  it  is 
come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  that  I  am"  (viii:  24,  58; 
vi :  20 ;  xiii :  19) .  Perhaps,  the  dear  Christ  hoped,  some 
warning  or  appeal,  associated  with  His  repeated  asser- 
tion in  these  words  of  His  identity  with  Jehovah,  might 
strike  home  to  that  false  heart  and  bring  it  to  repent- 
ance. 

There  was  one  other  upon  whom  the  boundless 
charity  of  Christ  was  spent  prodigally,  and  that  was 
Caiaphas.  That  false  priest  was  still  in  His  thoughts, 
after  He  had  been  scourged,  and  when  He  was  about 
to  be  crucified  (xix :  11).  "He  that  delivered  Me  unto 
thee,"  He  said  to  Pilate  sorrowfully,  "hath  the  greater 


222  SAINT  JOHN 


sin,"  that  is,  a  greater  sin  even  than  Pilate's.  He  had 
forgotten  His  own  "agony  and  dying,"  in  longing  for 
the  conversion  of  Caiaphas.  Surely,  then,  no  one  of 
us  need  ever  despair.  At  least  we  have  never  done 
more  evil  than  Judas  and  Caiaphas,  and  the  Jesu*s 
love,  the  dear  "Hound  of  Heaven,"  followed  them  to 
the  end.  1 

W^t  Compa00ion  ot  tj^e  %\tMt^  l^itffin 

Sin  CrucifpinQ  Ct^rint 

It  is  not  a  figure  of  speech,  but  a  terribly  real  fact, 
that,  in  the  last  analysis,  it  was  neither  Romans  nor 
Jews,  but  our  sins,  which  crucified  Christ.  We  can 
trace  His  Death  directly  to  the  three  main  sources  of 
evil  in  our  human  heart;  of  these  His  slayers  were 
merely  exponents.  For,  first,  selj-imll  rejected  the 
Saviour  Who  was  not  conformed  to  its  own  desires. 
The  Jews  "laid  information  against  Jesus  as  a  dan- 
gerous character;  their  real  complaint  against  Him 
was  precisely  this  that  He  was  not  dangerous.  Pilate 
executed  Him  on  the  ground  that  His  Kingdom  was 
of  this  world;  the  Jews  procured  His  execution,  pre- 
cisely because  it  was  not." 

Secondly,  the  Deicide  was  due  to  Pilate's  pmbUity 
to  appreciate  spiritual  values.  Our  Lx)rd  oflFered  him 
the  Kingdom  of  Truth,  and  was  met  by  the  half- 
despairing,  half-cynical  question,  "What  is  truth?"  It 
seemed  to  him  perfectly  intangible  and  unreal;  his 
office,  power  and  wealth  were  the  actual  values,  and 
he  dared  not  risk  them.  Tiberius  was  a  jealous  Em- 
peror, and  was  already  frowning  upon  Sej anus, Pilate's 
patron,  who  was,  in  fact,  executed  the  following  year. 
Caesar  was  very  proud  of  his  excellent  provincial  gov- 
ernments, also,  and  knew  that  the  Governor  of  the 


SAINT  JOHN  IIZ 


Jews  had  three  times  all  but  caused  a  rebellion  among 
his  subjects.  Add  to  this  that  it  was  enough  under  the 
lex  majestatis  to  be  accused  of  treason,  and  decapita- 
tion would  follow  almost  certainly.  In  comparison 
with  these  interests,  truth  was  negligible.  Is  there  not 
the  making  of  a  Pilate  in  most  of  us?  Are  we  not 
prone  to  love  things  more  than  God? 

Both  Pilate  and  the  Jews  personified  the  third  evil 
which  crucified  our  Lord,  that  is,  pride.  When  the 
governor  finally  allowed  himself  to  be  forced  to  con- 
demn One  Whom  he  had  publicly  declared  to  be  en- 
tirely innocent,  he  thenceforth  desired  only  to  take 
revenge  for  the  blow  to  his  Roman  pride,  by  heaping 
ridicule  upon  "the  King  of  the  Jews."  Accordingly, 
he  brought  the  meek  Sufferer  forth,  arrayed  in  robes 
of  mock  royalty,  and  crowned  with  a  conqueror's 
wreath,  but  of  thorns,  and,  it  seems,  seated  Him  upon 
a  judgment  seat  in  burlesque  state  (xix:  13,  literally 
translated).  The  Jews,  on  their  part,  repudiated  Him 
as  their  King,  and,  in  order  to  show  their  utter  scorn 
of  Him,  had  His  Cross  placed  in  the  center  with  a 
crucified  robber  on  each  Hand  in  parody  of  a  king 
among  his  councillors.  But,  amid  all  this  execration 
of  Him,  there  was  a  little  group  which  followed  Him 
to  the  end  and  gave  Him  their  deepest  sympathy,  their 
consuming  love  and  their  adoration.  The  central  fig- 
ure of  that  little  band  was  His  Virgin  Mother.  Let  us 
to-day  thank  God  for  her  Compassion. 

Ccamination  of  (ran0cience 
It  is  a  result  of  our  pride  which  was  the  main  mur- 
derer of  Incarnate  God,  that  we  naturally  shrink  from 


224  SAINT  JOHN 


sincerely  and  honestly  looking  our  consciences  in  the 
face.  The  correctives  of  this  self-conceit  are  a  deep- 
ening hatred  of  "the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us," 
and  a  stern  resolution  against  duplicity  with  our  own 
hearts  (Jer.  xvii :  9).  Now  it  will  enable  us  almost  to 
love  these  two  austere  qualities,  if  we  see  self-deception 
at  work  in  the  souls  of  the  Jews.  Their  own  rabbinic 
law  forbade  them  to  try  a  criminal  on  a  capital  charge 
at  night,  because  of  the  likelihood  of  injustice  and 
foul  play ;  but  they  condemned  Jesus  in  secrecy,  before 
dawn,  and  then  held  a  purely  formal  meeting  in  day- 
light to  confirm  the  sentence.  They  bribed  the  wit- 
nesses against  the  Prisoner,  but  followed  the  legal 
form  of  examining  them  singly,  whereupon  their  tes- 
timony unexpectedly  conflicted  (St.  Mark  xiv:  55-59). 
A  day  should  have  intervened  between  the  sentence 
and  the  execution;  this  law  they  evaded  by  getting 
Pilate  to  condemn  Him  so  that  he  would  also  set  the 
time.  But  not  for  the  world  would  they  enter  the  Gen- 
tile governor's  house,  because  it  had  not  been  cere- 
monially cleansed  from  leaven.  It  would  seem  in- 
credible that  souls  could  so  delude  themselves,  if  it 
were  not  that  we  are  so  liable  to  put  our  own  trust  in 
forms  of  prayer  and  external  respectability. 

In  the  priestly  persecutors  of  Jesus,  we  see  to  what 
an  awful  depth  souls  may  sink  through  self-deception. 
For  it  seems  that  they  went  from  the  two  false  trials 
of  Jesus  before  the  Sanhedrin  to  the  offering  of  the 
morning  sacrifice  in  the  temple,  and  from  this  devo- 
tion back  to  Pilate's  tribunal.  The  very  voices  which 
had  but  just  been  raised  in  the  praise  of  Jehovah  were 
now  lifted  in  the  savage  cry,  "Crucify  Him !  Crucify 
Him !" 

We  must,  therefore,  be  firm  in  examining  ourselves 


SAINTJOHN  225 


daily,  especially  as  to  our  besetting  temptation.  For 
this  is  the  principal  hold  which  Satan  has  upon  us. 
Let  us  loathe  his  touch.  St.  John  could  not  bear  to 
mention  his  name  in  this  Gospel,  except  the  one  time 
when  he  must  speak  of  his  entrance  into  Judas'  heart 
(xiii:  2y).  There  is  a  great  Ideal  before  us  which  we 
are  to  strive  after  through  self-examination,  and  this 
is  the  Perfection  of  Jesus.  Satan  came  feeling  and 
searching  through  that  Immaculate  Humanity  with  his 
filthy  fingers,  seeking  for  one  single  weakness  by  which 
he  could  claim  Christ  as  his  own  (xiv:3o).  And  wc 
must  be  looking  and  longing  for  the  time  to  come, 
when  we,  like  our  Lord,  can  say,  "The  Prince  of  this 
world  hath  nothing  in  me." 

I^ol;  aaUffft*  Read  St.  John  xix 

)9alm  &untia^ 

C|7e  {humiliation  of  2Dui  iStng 

On  the  docket  of  the  Governor's  Court  that  first 
Good  Friday,  were  the  cases  of  three  robbers  who  had 
assumed  the  cloak  of  patriotic  insurrectionists  in  order 
to  hide  their  crimes.  Their  leader,  Barabbas,  had  also 
committed  murder.  All  three  were  condemned  to  be 
crucified.  Now,  it  occurred  to  Pilate  that  he  could 
save  Jesus  by  allowing  the  people  to  choose  between 
His  release  and  that  of  the  desperate  homicide,  think- 
ing that  they  would  really  have  no  alternative  but  to 
prefer  the  innocent  Man.  But  the  people  chose  the 
criminal,  with  the  result  that  the  Son  of  God  was  cru- 
cified on  the  Cross  which  had  been  prepared  for  the 
condemned  convict,  and  between  his  accomplices.  Even 
the  Name  and  Title  of  our  Lord  seem  to  have  been 
16 


226  SAINT  JOHN 


involved  in  His  utter  abjection,  for  the  name  of  the 
murderous  robber  was  probably  Jesus  Barabbas,  or 
"Saviour  Son 'of  the  Father," — an  opportunity  which 
would  surely  not  be  lost  by  bitter  tongues. 

The  Roman  soldiers  in  the  Prsetorium  were  not  slow 
to  see  the  rare  chance  for  savage  sport  with  this  "King 
of  the  Jews."  Accordingly,  after  they  had  scourged 
Him,  they  put  upon  Him  an  old  purple  gown,  and  a 
chaplet  of  thorns  as  a  parody  on  the  victor's  wreath 
of  Tiberius.  Then  they  approached  Him  one  by  one, 
in  a  burlesque  of  the  court  customs,  with  the  genuflec- 
tion of  pretended  reverence  and  a  blow  in  His  Face 
instead  of  the  kiss  of  homage.  Afterward,  when  He 
had  been  condemned  to  be  crucified,  they  called  to- 
gether the  whole  cohort  to  participate  in  this  amusing 
torture  (cp.  St.  Matt,  xxvii  127). 

When  at  last  they  permitted  Him  to  take  up  His 
Cross  and  go  forth  to  Calvary,  what  a  contrast  the  pro- 
cession presented  to  His  entrance  into  the  City  only  the 
Sunday  before!  (xii:  12  ff.)  Then,  it  was  the  march 
of  triumph  up  to  His  Capital,  amid  the  hozannas  of 
His  people  and  over  the  palm  and  olive  branches  cast 
before  Him  by  the  children ;  now  it  was  the  Via 
Dolorosa,  and  the  King  moved  heavily  away  from  the 
City,  with  the  placard  of  His  accusation  hanging  from 
His  Neck  and  laden  with  the  gibbet  on  which  He  was 
to  die.  Surely  He  spared  Himself  no  mortification 
which  would  make  His  example  a  more  effective  cure 
of  our  pride.  In  our  time  of  temptation  to  sensitive- 
ness, or  vanity,  or  self-assertion,  let  us  remember  Jesus 
bearing  His  Cross,  lest  the  torture  of  His  dear  Heart 
for  us  should  have  been  in  vain. 


SAINT  JOHN  227 


Wi^z  61^re&ne00  of  tl^r  CiudfuD 

At  Pilate's  side  stood  a  lictor,  with  his  official  axe, 
about  the  handle  of  which  were  bound  rods  for  the 
chastisement  of  offenders  of  the  higher  classes.  But 
the  flagellation  inflicted  upon  Jesus  was  that  which 
was  appointed  for  slaves  convicted  of  heinous  crimes. 
It  was  administered  by  two  soldiers  who  stood,  one 
on  each  side,  behind  and  above  Him,  and  laid  on  their 
blows  alternately,  with  the  terrible  Roman  scourge 
having  seven  thongs  weighted  with  lead.  Many  per- 
sons succumbed  under  the  scourging.  Yet  no  outcry, 
complaint  or  protest  came  from  the  meek  Lamb  of 
God! 

Even  the  Roman  Governor  was  awed  by  the  bearing 
of  Jesus.  He  had  ordered  the  Flagellation  on  the  very 
ground  that  the  defendant  was  innocent.  'I  have  found 
no  fault  in  this  Man,'  was  his  judgment,  *I  will  there- 
fore chastise  Him  and  release  Him.'  The  'chastise- 
ment,' which  would  have  been  with  the  lictor's  rods, 
had  become  the  Scourging  and  still  the  Victim  endured 
all  with  the  same  unearthly  look  of  gentle  resignation. 
Surely  if  the  people  saw  Him  thus,  they  would  con- 
sent to  His  release.  Therefore,  Pilate  brought  Him 
forth,  the  King  of  Love,  revealing  so  plainly  in  His 
Face  His  patient  willingness  to  die  for  His  people,  and 
showed  Him  to  them,  saying,  ''Behold !  The  Man !" 

What  is  believed  to  have  been  the  stone  pillar  at 
which  the  Flagellation  was  given  has  been  found.  If 
we  entered  the  room  where  it  stands,  how  immediately 
we  would  approach  and  kneel  down,  and  how  lovingly 
we  would  look  upon  that  to  which  our  Lord  was  bound 
when  He  suffered  for  us  the  healing  stripes!    But  it 


228  SAINT  JOHN 


will  be  far  more  acceptable  to  Him,  if  we  will  kneel 
down  in  our  own  homes,  and  promise  Him  that  in 
honor  of  His  patient  love  at  His  Scourging,  we  will 
strive  always  to  bear  injuries  meekly. 

€)|)r  {^lacarti 

Pilate  himself  directed  the  inscribing  of  our  Lord's 
Name  and  Title  in  three  languages  on  the  placard 
which  took  the  place  of  the  ordinary  accusation ;  and 
perhaps  the  report  that  Jesus  had  **made  Himself  the 
Son  of  God,"  united  with  the  Divine  Holiness  of  the 
Sufferer,  had  suggested  to  the  governor  the  universal 
import  -of  His  Death  {w.  7  f.).  Certainly,  he  'told  it 
out  among  the  heathen  that  the  Lord  is  King.'  For 
Hebrew  was  the  language  of  the  Jews,  Latin  the  offi- 
cial tongue,  and  Greek  the  common  speech  of  the  Em- 
pire. Thus  Jesus  was  proclaimed  to  be  the  Sovereign 
of  Jew  and  Gentile  alike. 

There  was  more  significance  than  this,  however,  in 
our  Lord's  ''title,"  for  it  symbolized  the  three  main 
ways  in  which  the  world  had  been  made  ready  for  His 
coming.  The  language  of  the  Old  Testament  sug- 
gested the  religious  instruction  of  the  race;  that  of  the 
Empire  represented  the  social  preparation  through  the 
spread  of  Roman  civilization ;  and  Greek  was  the  me- 
dium through  which  God  had  provided  the  training  of 
philosophy  and  an  international  tongue. 

But  the  writing  on  the  Cross  is  Jesu's  appeal  to  each 
one  of  us  for  his  whole  being.  He  would  have  our 
mind ;  that  He  signifies  by  procuring  that  His  Title  of 
Kingship  should  be  written  in  the  intellectual  tongue. 


SAINT  JOHN  229 


He  seeks  our  will,  our  imperial  faculty,  by  asserting 
His  royal  claim  over  us  in  the  Imperial  language.  He 
pleads  for  the  heart  of  each  one  of  the  faithful  in  the 
speech  of  religion.  And  He  seals  His  threefold  claim 
by  being  crucified  for  love  of  us;  that  all  our  self-love 
may  be  crucified  for  love  of  Him. 


erijriet  Curn)5  to  t^e  (Sentilea 

Our  dear  Saviour  was  condemned  on  the  Pavement 
between  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Temple  and  the  Praeto- 
rium  overiooking  it.  The  Hebrew  name  for  this  stone 
platform,  Gabbatha,  in  fact,  means  the  ''Back  of  the 
House  (of  God)"  {v.  13).  As  Christ  stood  facing 
Pilate  and  with  His  Back  to  the  temple,  His  very  posi- 
tion was  symbolic  of  the  tragic  truth  that  He  had 
turned  from  the  ancient  people  of  God  to  the  Gentiles, 
and  prophetic  of  the  day  for  which  we  hope  when  the 
Jews  shall  be  one  with  us  in  His  Mystical  Body. 

Through  their  "chief  priests,"  the  official  spokesmen 
of  the  ancient  theocracy,  not  the  mob,  nor  even  the 
Pharisees,  Israel  publicly  renounced  all  claim  to  be  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  "We  have  no  King  but  Csesar," 
they  cried  {v.  15).  Moreover,  they  had  begun  by  re- 
pudiating Jesus  as  the  Christ,  and  now  they  ended  by 
rejecting  the  Christ  altogether;  and  with  that  unpar- 
alleled act  of  apostasy,  they,  representing  their  people, 
finally  abdicated  their  ancient  liberty.  Henceforth  by 
their  own  confession,  they  were  as  much  under  the 
tyranny  of  Caesar  as  any  Gentile  tribe.  Never  since 
have  they  regained  their  lost  sovereignty  as  a  nation. 
Jesus  Christ  alone  gives  civil  and  religious  liberty, 


230  SAINT  JOHN 


through  the  conquest  of  self  which  He  teaches  from 
the  pulpit  of  His  Cross.  But  we  share  the  inspired 
hope  of  St.  Paul  that,  at  the  last,  Israel  also  shall  be 
gathered  into  the  universal,  free,  State  of  Salvation 
(Rom.  xi:  26). 

When,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jews  the  soldiers 
thrust  a  spear  into  our  Lord's  side,  St.  John  remem- 
bered the  prophecy  of  Zechariah:  "They  shall  look 
on  Him  Whom  they  pierced"  {w.  34,  37).  And  he 
tells  us  that  the  Day  will  break  when  this  same  Jesus 
will  come  ''with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  Him, 
and  they  also  which  pierced  Him"  (Rev.  i:7).  Shall 
the  Faithful  of  the  Old  Dispensation  be  among  "the 
tribes  of  the  earth"  which  "mourn,"  at  that  Second 
Advent?  Or  shall  they  see  in  the  pierced  Heart  of 
their  Messiah  the  open  Door  of  His  Fold  into  which 
their  nation  has  at  last  entered?  The  answer  will  de- 
pend upon  the  prayers,  the  holy  lives  and  the  Christ- 
like charity  of  Christians. 


%^t  IPirparation  of  t|)r  I9a00ober 

To  the  young  Apostle  who  was  at  our  Lx)rd's  side 
through  all  the  heartbreaking  trial  in  the  Prsetorium, 
He  appeared,  most  of  all,  as  the  Lamb  of  God.  So 
gentle  and  uncomplaining,  so  patient  and  loving  was 
He,  through  it  all,  that  St.  John  could  think  of  noth- 
ing but  the  innocent  victims  to  be  slain  that  day.  Thus 
he  reminds  us,  in  connection  with  the  final  sentencing 
of  Christ,  that  "it  was  the  preparation  of  the  passover" 
{v.  14).  Again,  when  the  sour  wine  was  lifted  to  the 
parched   Lips  of  the  Crucified,  he  noticed  that  the 


SAINT  JOHN  231 


sponge  had  been  put  upon  hyssop,  one  of  the  herbs 
always  eaten  at  the  paschal  meal  (z;.  29) ;  and  in  relat- 
ing the  fact  that  the  soldiers  did  not  break  our  Lord's 
Legs,  he  applies  to  this  the  rule  for  preparing  the  lamb 
of  the  passover,  **a  bone  of  him  shall  not  be  broken" 
{v.  36,  cp.  Ex.  xii:46).  Surely  the  Apostle  of  Love 
means  to  teach  us  that  Jesus  is  our  Lamb  Whom  we 
receive  Whole  in  our  Christian  Paschal  Supper. 

The  Blood  and  Water  which  flowed  from  His  riven 
Heart  were  a  proof  that  even  in  Death  He  still  pos- 
sessed mysterious  Life.  The  Effusion  was,  also,  a  ful- 
fillment of  the  rabbinic  tradition  that,  when  Moses 
struck  the  rock,  blood  flowed  from  it,  and  then  water. 
But,  while  it  was  a  sign  to  his  people  of  the  Old 
Covenant,  it  was  full  of  precious  promise  of  cleansing 
and  quickening  Sacraments,  to  the  Catholic  Church. 

So  eager  was  our  Saviour  to  give  Himself  for  man- 
kind, that  there  was  in  reality  only  one  point  in  which 
His  intention  in  the  Passion  differed  from  that  of  His 
enemies.  Their  desire  was  to  take  His  Life,  and  He 
wanted  nothing  so  much  as  to  give  it  to  them:  they 
cried  out,  "His  Blood  be  on  us  and  on  our  children," 
and  He  longed  to  pour  it  over  their  hearts  and  con- 
sciences. But  they  disagreed  in  this,  that  they  meant 
to  waste  His  Precious  Blood  or  to  invoke  It  as  a  curse 
upon  their  race,  while  He  passionately  desired  to  give 
It  to  them  as  a  source  of  eternal  blessings.  And  the 
sweetest  reparation  we  can  make  to  Him  for  the  in- 
gratitude of  the  Jews  is  always  to  receive  Him  for  our 
everlasting  benefit. 


232  SAINT  JOHN 


(EiooH  JFtttiap 

Hobf  Eetfine  Jfrom  t|)e  Cro00 

As  Royal  as  Jesus  was  all  through  His  Life,  He  was 
never  so  perfectly  the  King  of  Divine  Charity  as  when 
He  reigned  from  His  Throne  on  the  Cross.  Not  only 
did  He  pray  for  His  executioners  as  they  nailed  Him 
down,  absolve  the  penitent  robber  and  provide  for  His 
dear  Mother  and  Beloved  Disciple,  but  He  gave  up 
His  whole  Mind  and  Will  for  those  six  hours  of  su- 
preme agony  to  striving  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews. 
Four  times  they  had  shouted,  as  with  one  voice,  for 
His  destruction:  "Not  this  Man,  but  Barabbas"; 
"Crucify  Him!  Crucify  Himl";  "He  ought  to  die''; 
"Away  with  Him,  Away  with  Him,  Crucify  Him!" 
(xviii:  40;  z/r^.  6,  7,  15).  And  now  for  the  fourth  time 
H-e  cried  out  seeking  their  salvation  (cp.  vii.  28,  37; 
xii:44;  St.  Matt,  xxvii:  50).  After  they  had  brought 
Him  to  the  crudest  and  vilest  of  deaths,  His  Divine 
revenge  upon  them  was  to  say  His  last  prayer  on  the 
Cross  "with  a  loud  voice,"  in  order  to  prove  that  He 
was  voluntarily  yielding  up  His  Spirit  into  His  Father's 
Hands,  in  the  hope  that  they  might  even  then  accept 
Him  as  the  Son  of  God  (cp.  St.  Mark  xv:  39). 

The  four  soldiers  who  were  guarding  Him  had 
divided  His  outer  clothing  among  them  and  were  dic- 
ing for  His  seamless  robe,  treating  Him  as  being  al- 
ready dead.  With  them,  St.  John  contrasts  the  four 
women  who  stood  in  a  semicircle  around  the  dear 
pierced  Feet,  protecting  Him ;  to  them  He  was  the 
King  of  Eternal  Life  {w.  23  ff.). 

The  three  Words  from  the  Cross  recorded  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel  are  wonderfully  characteristic  of  Sov- 
ereign Love.    By  one  gentle  decree,  He  indicated  for 


SAINT  JOHN  233 


all  time  that  the  Christian  home  should  be  established 
and  built  up  around  His  Cross  (yv.  26  f.).  After  many 
hours  spent  in  planning  for  the  salvation  of  our  whole 
race,  He  spoke  again,  saying  '1  thirst,"  in  order  to 
fulfill  a  small  provision  of  His  rule  of  life  in  the  Scrip- 
tures {y.  28).  For  this  King  is  perfect  both  in  plans 
of  world-wide  scope,  and  in  the  tiniest  details.  But 
this  was  the  last  act  of  obedience  required  from  Him. 
Now  He  could  say,  "It  is  finished";  His  redemptive 
Work,  the  fulfillment  of  all  God's  promises  under  the 
Old  Covenant,  and  His  Own  development  as  our  High 
Priest  had  been  perfectly  consummated  (cp.  Heb.  v: 
8flF.)-  Therefore  rightfully  He  reigns  from  the  Cross 
over  the  Realm  of  Love, — this  Monarch  with  His 
Crown  of  Thorns  and  the  Spike  for  a  sceptre !  This 
day  He  claims  our  hearts  afresh.  He  shall  be  the 
Master  of  our  Destiny.       1 

Consecrating  tl)e  (Klfbrnt|)  l^our 

St.  Joseph  of  Arimathsea,  by  his  example,  teaches  us 
the  great  lesson  that  it  is  never  too  late  to  mend  a  bad 
matter.  He  had  kept  hiS"  discipleship  secret  for  fear  of 
the  Jews  throughout  Christ's  life,  and  it  would  have 
been  natural  for  him  now  that  the  Lord  was  dead,  to 
continue  suppressing  his  allegiance.  H  he  touched  the 
dead  Body  he  would  be  unclean  for  the  greatest  feast 
of  his  religion ;  his  failure  to  take  part  in  the  festival 
services  v/ould  precipitate  the  dishonor  and  scorn  which 
would  be  heaped  upon  him  by  all  his  old  friends.  St. 
Mark  reveals  to  us  that  only  after  a  severe  struggle 
with  himself  he,  "having  dared,  went  in  unto  Pilate 
and  craved  the  Body  of  Jesus"  (xv:43,  literally  trans- 
lated). 


234  SAINT  JOHN 


If  we  follow  him,  we  will  never  say  that  things  have 
gone  so  far  that  we  can  do  nothing  to  remedy  them. 
St.  Joseph  might  well  have  considered  that  he  could 
accomplish  nothing  in  the  few  hours  of  Good  Friday 
which  remained  before  the  Festival  would  begin.  But 
see  what  he  was  able  to  do!  First  of  all,  he  inspired 
the  courage  of  St.  Nicodemus,  who  followed  him  with 
an  hundredweight  of  spices  for  the  sacred  Body.  But 
far  more  important  than  this,  he  with  his  companion 
provided  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, by  binding  our  Lord's  Limbs  with  the  strips  of 
linen  and  weighting  them  with  the  myrrh  and  aloes, 
until  it  was  obviously  impossible  for  Him  to  move 
except  in  a  supernatural  way.  Let  their  experience 
teach  us  to  make  the  most  of  a  spiritual  crisis,  or  even 
of  a  disaster. 

But  when  we  do  turn  away  from  our  failure,  or  sin, 
to  our  Lord,  we  must  bring  our  best.  St.  Joseph  gave 
his  new  tomb,  which  had  been  hewn  out  of  the  solid 
rock,  for  his  own  body,  and  was  enclosed  in  his  gar- 
den. Let  us  provide  Jesus  a  heart  which  has  been 
cleansed  from  our  fault  by  penitence,  and  beautified  by 
those  rare  exotics,  the  Christian  virtues. 

Mot  ^too  Witthfi*  Read  St.  John  xx 

Hobe  Brcribinc  t|)e  faster  C^tint 

So  preeminent  is  the  Divine  Mystery  commemorated 
in  this  Queen  Feast,  that  all  Three  Persons  of  the 
Godhead  are  revealed  as  participating  in  it.  The 
Father  is  often  said  to  have  raised  our  Lord  from  the 
dead  (cp.  Acts  iii:i5).  The  Incarnate  Son  declared 
tl:at,  if  the  Jev.'s  destroyed  the  Temple  of  His  Body,  in 


SAINT  JOHN  235 


three  days  He  would  raise  it  up  (St.  John  ii:  19  ff.)- 
The  Holy  Spirit,  St.  Paul  indicates,  ''raised  up  Jesus 
from  the  dead,"  in  the  same  way  that  He  shall  also 
quicken  our  mortal  bodies  at  our  resurrection  (Rom. 
viii:  11).  All  the  Infinite  Love  of  the  Blessed  Trinity 
was  poured  out  upon  the  Risen  Christ,  and  upon  us 
through  Him. 

That  Divine  Charity  planned,  moreover,  to  disclose 
the  glorious  truth  to  Jesus'  friends,  in  the  way  each 
could  best  receive  it.  The  Beloved  Disciple  needed 
only  to  see  the  open  sepulchre,  the  empty  cerements, 
and  the  napkin  neatly  folded  by  the  familiar  Hands 
{w.  6flF.).  St.  Mary  Magdalen  knew  her  Lord  when 
He  spoke  to  her  with  the  "Personal  Voice  of  love" 
{w.  14-16).  To  the  ten  Apostles,  He  showed  the 
sacred  wounds  in  Hands  and  Feet  and  Side,  and  they 
believed  {v.  20).  But  St.  Thomas  demanded  the  op- 
portunity of  thrusting  his  finger  into  the  Print  of  the 
nails,  and,  with  the  old  meekness  and  charity,  Jesus 
submitted  to  his  test  (27  f.).  Is  it  not  a  pure  joy  to 
see  "these  slowly  widening  victories  of  faith"  in  the 
Easter  Christ? 

With  the  development  of  love  and  faith,  knowledge 
also  grew.  St.  John  seems  to  have  gained  from  his 
first  view  of  the  empty  tomb  only  a  belief  that  some- 
how the  Lord  was  again  alive.  He  revealed  Himself 
openly  to  the  blessed  Magdalen,  but  she,  not  yet  know- 
ing Him  "as  the  Son  of  God  with  power,"  addressed 
Him  still  by  the  old,  inferior,  title  "Master."  The 
Apostolic  Band  recognized  Him  as  "the  Lord"  when 
they  had  seen  the  Marks  of  His  Passion.  Finally,  St. 
Thomas,  reaping  the  advantage  of  the  revelations  to 
the  others,  voiced  the  confession  of  them  all  when  he 
cried,  "My  Lord  and  my  God."    Be  his  faith  ours,  and 


236  SAINT  JOHN 


with  it,  that  extraordinary  blessing  of  our  Lord  which 
He  promised  to  those  who  have  not  seen  and  yet  be- 
lieve. 1 

(Carter  9?onlia^ 

S^e  I^rrsonal  Hobe  of  leeua  for  ®ac|>  doul 

Among  the  few  details  which  St.  John  thought  im- 
portant enough  to  mention  for  the  fourth  time  in  his 
Gospel  was  the  early  visit  of  the  holy  women  to  the 
sepulchre.  The  blessed  Magdalen  arrived  there  well 
before  dawn,  having  outsped  the  others.  But  there 
was  One  Who  had  risen  even  earlier  than  she  and  Who 
came  to  meet  her,  bringing  her  the  riche-st  of  blessings- 
{vv.  I  ff.,  11-17).  We  could  hardly  have  more  im- 
pressive teaching  that  our  Lord  loves  to  have  us  seek 
Him,  in  prayer  and  at  Holy  Communion,  before  the 
distractions  of  the  day  begin,  and  while  the  dew  of 
grace  is  at  its  freshest  on  our  hearts. 

It  was  the  personal  love  for  Him  of  the  holy  peni- 
tent to  which  He  thus  immediately  responded.  So 
close  and  so  dear  to  her  was  He,  that  she  loved  even 
His  dead  Body  as  'her  Lord' ;  and  her  devotion  to- 
Him  made  her  feel  strong  enough  to  "take  Him  away" 
on  her  weak  shoulders.  He  seems,  however,  to  have 
waited  until  she  had  an  even  deeper  sense  of  her  per- 
sonal loss.  When  she  reported  to  the  Apostles,  **They 
have  taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  Sepulchre,  and  we- 
know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him,"  He  did  not  come 
to  her ;  but  no  sooner  had  she  said  to  the  angels,  "They 
have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  /  know  not  where  they 
have  laid  Him,"  than  He  gave  her  the  unspeakable  joy 
of  His  Presence. 

But  why,  then,  did  He  direct  her  not  to  hold  to  His 
Feet?    {v.  17  A.  V.  Marg.)    She  was  making  the  very 


SAINT  JOHN  237 


natural  mistake  of  trying  to  cling  to  what  she  supposed 
was  the  old  relationship  restored.  Christ,  she  assumed, 
had  become  like  St.  Lazarus,  after  he  was  brought  back 
from  the  dead.  But  He  gently  instructed  her  that  He 
would,  through  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  grant 
to  His  Own  a  much  more  real  and  precious  spiritual 
relationship.  Therefore,  now,  for  the  first  time,  He 
spoke  of  the  Church  as  His  ''brethren."  In  His  God- 
head He  dwells  in  each  one  of  us  continually,  and  with 
His  Risen  Manhood  He  is  in  our  hearts  for  a  few 
priceless  moments  after  each  Communion.  Shall  we 
not  hold  fast  to  the  Feet  of  this  Divine  Brother,  as  long 
as  we  may  and  with  our  deepest  personal  love  for 
Him?  ^ 

(Ea0tet  ^ue^nap 

Complete  Drbotion  to  t^e  Kigen  €I?rijBt 

It  will  help  us  to  devote  our  whole  being  to  Qirist, 
if  we  make  a  simple  analysis  of  love,  guided  by  the 
Scriptures.  There  is,  first,  natural  love,  called  by  the 
Greeks  Eros,  which  springs  entirely  from  the  emo- 
tions. It  is  used  in  the  Bible  only  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  there  but  twice  in  an  honorable  sense ;  once 
of  the  fondness  of  Ahasuerus  for  his  Queen,  and  again 
in  the  Divine  command  to  love  Holy  Wisdom  (Esther 
ii:i7;  Prov.  iv:6).  The  Holy  Scriptures,  therefore, 
indicate  that  our  natural  aflfections  are  not  evil,  but  are 
to  be  devoted  to  Christ,  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and  to  our 
family  and  friends  in  Him.  St.  Ignatius,  on  his  wa)j 
to  martyrdom,  wrote:  "My  love  {eros)  is  crucified." 
His  passions  were  consecrated,  with  Jesus,  on  the 
Cross. 

Secondly,  there  is  what  we  may  call  relational  or 
devotional  love  (philia)^  which  is  devotion  to  Christ 


238  SAINT  JOHN 


as  our  Friend,  Brother,  and  Saviour.  This  proceeds 
from  the  will  and  the  emotions.  It  is  a  beautiful  and 
holy  affection,  having  a  spiritual  counterpart  in  the 
Love  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  the  Blessed 
Trinity  (v:2o).  We  should  often  stimulate  it,  and 
strive  to  increase  it,  by  the  use  of  a  cross  or  a  crucifix 
in  our  devotions,  by  thinking  of  Jesus'  Personal  love 
for  us,  and  by  frequenting  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

The  third  kind  of  love  (agape),  however,  is  the 
highest  of  all;  for  this  Divine  Qiarity  constitutes  the 
very  Nature  of  God.  It  is  elicited  from  the  Christian 
will,  and  is  for  the  Blessed  Trinity  and  for  the  souls 
of  our  fellow-men.  It  is  of  so  unstrained  a  quality 
that  it  extends  to  the  whole  world,  not  excluding  our 
enemies,  and  strives  for  the  salvation  of  all.  It  was  the 
bond  which  united  Jesus  to  His  Beloved  Disciple ;  and 
nothing  m.akes  Him  so  joyful  as  to  see  this  noblest 
devotion  developed  in  our  souls,  because  it  makes  us 
most  like  Himself.  1 

Mthnt^tiav  in  (£amt  dOIeefc 

OiiBcernins  t|)e  ISteen  €^mt 

Divine  Charity  is  the  calmest,  most  disinterested  and 
most  powerful  of  all  kinds  of  love.  Why  was  it  that 
our  Lord  gave  it  to  St.  John,  His  youngest  Apostle,  in 
addition  to  the  "natural"  and  "relational"  affection 
which  He  bestowed  impartially  upon  all  the  Band  ?  It 
was  because  St.  John  was  receptive  of  the  highest  love. 
From  the  first  he  discerned,  however  dimly,  the  perfect 
Charity  of  his  Master's  Personality  and,  although  fee- 
bly, responded  to  it.  He  was  always  less  emotional 
and  more  penetrating  than  the  others. 

Accordingly,  we  find  him  forever  being  surpassed 
in  action,  and  excelling  in  keenness  of  vision.    Thus, 


SAINT  JOHN  239 


he  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  discern  the  Messiah 
in  Jesus;  but  St.  Andrew,  representing  rather  "rela- 
tional," or  "devotional,"  love,  outstripped  him  in  bring- 
ing his  brother  to  Christ.  At  the  sepulchre,  again,  it 
was  fervent,  impulsive  Peter  who  first  entered,  but  it 
was  the  Apostle  of  Love  who,  seeing  the  cerements, 
discerned  the  Risen  Christ.  Finally,  when  their  Mas- 
ter appeared  at  the  lakeside,  St.  John  discerned  Him 
in  the  strange  Form,  but  St.  Peter  sprang  overboard 
and  swam  to  Him. 

The  lesson  for  us  is  that  we  ought  not  permit  our 
devotion  to  Jesus  to  stop  short  of  His  Godhead.  Not 
content  with  natural  love  for  His  dear  Humanity,  nor 
even  with  fervent  devotion  to  His  Sacred  Heart  and 
His  Sacramental  Presence,  we  must,  like  St.  John, 
often  discern  His  Person  and  respond  to  His  highest, 
Divine,  Love.  For  then  will  He  lead  us  to  know  and 
love  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  never  before, 
and  we  shall  be  His  beloved  disciples. 


'JtSur^Hap  in  (Easter  dflleek 

W^t  Tb\t9»tn  JPirflm  anH  t^t  Keeurrection 

In  all  the  world  there  was  but  one  person  who  ex- 
pected the  Resurrection  of  Christ,  and  that  one  was 
His  Mother.  Although  there  were  Old  Testament 
prophecies  and  the  constant  teaching  of  Jesus  to  in- 
struct His  disciples,  none  of  the  others  heard  this 
double  witness  of  God  {v.  9;  St.  Luke  xxiv:  17-27). 
But  the  dear  pondering  heart  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  had 
become  certain  that  He  would  rise  from  the  dead. 
Otherwise,  though  she  was  the  most  heroic  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, she  could  not  have  "stood"  before  the  Cross. 


240  SAINT  JOHN 


Her  faith  explains,  in  part,  the  fact  that  St.  John 
was  the  first  of  the  Apostles  to  believe  in  the  Resurrec- 
tion. Even  while  he  "knew  not  the  Scriptures,"  and 
had  before  him  only  the  same  evidence  that  occasioned 
simply  wonder  in  St.  Peter,  he  was  convinced.  Surely 
the  Blessed  Mother  had  been  comforting  him  with  her 
own  assurance  that  Jesus  would  indeed  rise  again. 

Because  she  believed  so  perfectly,  moreover,  she  was 
left  to  wait  for  a  visit  from  her  Risen  Son,  until  He 
had  shepherded  the  souls  which  stood  in  mortal  need 
of  Him  (cp.  St.  Luke  xv:4,  7).  Even  when  news  of 
His  Resurrection  was  brought  to  the  very  door,  it 
seems  not  to  have  been  for  her  {ik  2)  ;  there  was  no 
tragedy  in  her  heart  as  there  was  in  that  of  the  Mag- 
dalen, or  that  of  poor  desolate  Peter.  Do  we  think 
that  we  are  derelicts  when  God  and  His  servants  pass 
us  by?  Ought  we  not  rather  to  consider  that  He  is 
trusting  us,  as  He  confided  in  His  Mother,  to  be  true 
to  Him,  without  His  special  favors? 


jFtitiap  in  (Ea^trr  Mttk 

S|)e  tHeatfi  of  Jreus 

To-day  let  us,  from  the  midst  of  our  Easter  joys  and 
blessings,  look  back  and  recollect  what  it  cost  our  Lord 
to  give  us  the  Paschal  Feast.  It  will  be  convenient  for 
us  to  gather  our  thoughts  about  the  three  occasions, 
when,  we  are  told.  He  wept.  The  first  time  was  at  the 
grave  of  St.  Lazarus,  when,  as  the  Greek  word  means 
literally.  He  "shed  tears"  in  sorrow  for  His  dead  friend 
Cxi :  35).  In  His  grief,  and  His  eager  desire  to  revive 
His  disciple,  we  see  a  picture  of  His  love  for  each  one 
of  us,  and  His  far  greater  longing  to  burst  the  bonds 


SAINT  JOHN  241 


of  death  and  raise  men  to  a  share  in  His  own  Resur^ 
rection. 

On  Palm  Sunday,  again,  He  wept  as  He  came  into 
view  of  the  beautiful  City,  and  foresaw  its  utter  de- 
struction (St.  Luke  xix:4i).  The  verb  here  means 
that  He  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears  and  wept  aloud,  so 
great  was  His  sorrow  over  the  passing  of  His  ancient 
Church.  But  how  much  greater  was  His  care  for  His 
own  Mystical  Body,  which  He  knew  would  be  stricken 
as  if  in  death  by  His  Crucifixion,  and  must  be  raised  to 
glorious  new  life  by  His  Resurrection. 

We  are  prepared,  therefore,  for  His  grapple  with 
our  enemy,  death,  in  Gethsemane.  There  He  must  do 
battle,  by  prayer  and  suffering,  for  each  one  of  us 
individually,  and  for  the  very  life  of  His  Church. 
Therefore,  He  "offered  up  prayers  and  supplications 
with  strong  crying  and  tears,"  St.  Paul  reveals  to  us, 
"unto  Him  that  was  able  to  save  Him  out  from  death, 
and  was  heard"  (Heb.  v:  7  R.  V.).  His  pleading  was 
not  to  escape  the  Passion,  for  only  through  the  grave 
could  He  pass  to  His  Resurrection.  But  He  besought 
His  Father,  with  an  agony  of  weeping,  that  He  might 
issue  triumphantly  "out  from  death,"  for  our  sake. 
And  He  was  heard.  His  Human  Nature  was  empow- 
ered to  conquer  the  great  foe  of  mankind,  and  He 
came  forth  to  us  on  Easter  Day  with  the  gift  of  an 
endless  life.  , 

^aturnap  in  Carter  dOleefe 

StJc  Ke^lBirt^  of  JFaitl),  i^ope  ann  ILofae 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  preeminent  value, 
to  the  Apostles,  of  Jesus'  Resurrection.  If  we  take 
only  St.  Paul.  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  we  shall  find  that 

17 


242  SAINT  JOHN 


they  attributed  to  the  Risen  Christ  the  renascence  of 
the  essential  Theological  Virtues.  From  the  hour  the 
Radiance  of  Easter  shone  down  upon  him  on  the 
Damascus  Road,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  considered 
that  the  Christian  Religion  was  nothing  without  that 
glorious  Presence.  If  Christ  was  not  risen,  faith  was 
foolish;  he  was  a  false  witness  deceiving  thousands; 
his  sufferings,  such  as  his  battle  with  wild  beasts  at 
Ephesus,  were  in  vain,  for  he  was  still  in  his  sins  (i 
Cor.  XV :  15,  17,  32). 

St.  Peter  tells  us,  plainly,  how  his  dead  hope  sprang 
to  life  again  when  our  Saviour  came  to  him  on  the  first 
Easter  Day.  "God,"  he  wrote  long  afterward,  "hath 
begotten  us  again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead"  (i  St.  Pet.  1:3 
R.  v.).  He  could  never  forget  that  afternoon  when  he 
had  been  sitting,  too  utterly  disconsolate  even  to  weep, 
and  then  in  an  instant  all  was  changed,  when  he  saw 
the  familiar  Form  of  His  beloved  Master,  and  once 
more  heard  His  Voice  (St.  Luke  xxiv  :  34). 

Sixty-five  years  had  passed,  after  the  Resurrection, 
before  the  Apostle  of  Love  recorded  what  it  meant  to 
him,  but  the  impression  was  not  a  whit  the  less  virid 
from  the  passage  of  time.  'That  Which  we  have  heard, 
Which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes.  Which  we  have 
looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled,  of  the  Word 
of  Life,'  he  wrote  to  his  "little  children,"  "That  declare 
we  unto  you,  that  ye  may  have  fellowship  with  the 
Father,  and  with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ"  (i  St,  John 
i :  I  ff. ;  St.  Luke  xxiv:  39  f.)-  Thus  love,  the  spiritual 
life  and  union  with  God  through  Christ,  came  fortk 
from  the  grave  with  Him.  Are  we  using  His  precious 
Easter  gifts,  Faith,  Hope  and  Love?  Are  we  exercis- 
ing these  virtues,  and  praying  for  their  increase,  so 


SAINT  JOHN  243 


that  through  them  we  may  know  and  serve  our  Risen 
Lord  better?  . 

W^t  jFit0t  fe)unliap  jatter  Carter 

Our  Saviour  rose  to  change  the  whole  face  of  the 
earth ;  and  the  history  of  the  centuries  which  have 
followed  the  first  Easter  proves  that  His  Life  has  been 
the  one  preeminently  redeeming  force  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  If  a  traveler  had  set  out  in  68  a.d.  to  find 
the  greatest  thing  in  the  world,  the  Greek  would  have 
said  to  him,  ''You  must  see  Athens" ;  the  Roman,  "You 
must  visit  the  Mistress  of  the  World,"  and  the  Jew, 
"The Temple  is  certainly  what  you  seek."  But  the  tem- 
ple, and  old  Athens,  and  the  proud  Rome  of  the  Cae- 
sars, lie  in  ruins,  while  the  power  of  the  Resurrection 
has  transformed  the  world.  Music,  painting,  liberty, 
and  charity  toward  the  poor  and  weak  are  among  the 
gifts  of  civilization  which  have  received  their  inspira- 
tion from  the  faith  of  Christ  Risen. 

By  His  Victory,  God,  not  Satan,  has  been  shown  to 
be  the  master  of  the  world.  Even  the  recent  War  has 
been  overruled  for  our  good ;  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
has  revived ;  the  need  of  the  Christian  Faith  has  been 
brought  home  to  many  hearts;  and  the  severed  parts 
of  the  Body  of  Christ  have  been  drawn  nearer  to  re- 
union. Moreover,  in  spite  of  countless  foes  without 
and  within,  the  Church  is  steadily  gaining  ground.  The 
Bishop  of  London  has  said  that,  during  twenty-one 
years  of  ministry  in  his  See  City,  which  is  perhaps  as 
difficult  a  field  as  any,  he  has  seen  our  Lord  gain  so 
many  souls  that  his  faith  is  twenty-one  times  as  strong 
as  at  the  beginning. 


244  SAINT  JOHN 


When  our  Master  burst  the  bonds  of  death,  He  set 
free  an  inexhaustible  source  of  power  for  each  one  of 
us.  For,  through  the  Sacraments,  we  share  in  the 
courage  and  vigor  of 

"  One  who  never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  forward, 
Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never  dreamed,  though  right  were  worsted,  wrong  would 
triumph, 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake." 


a^onnap  atter  ti&e  JFitot  ^unliap  matter  (Eaotet 

(Baeter  Jop 

Because  there  was  no  purer  or  greater  natural  hap- 
piness, our  Lord  compared  the  joy  of  the  Qiurch  over 
His  Resurrection  to  that  of  a  mother  with  her  first-born 
babe.  The  Body  of  the  Faithful  must  suffer  the  tra- 
vail of  witnessing  His  Passion  first,  and  then  it  would 
have  the  unspeakable  happiness  of  bringing  Him  forth 
at  Easter.  Thus  dear  Jesus  claims  to  bear  to  us  all 
those  relationships  which  give  us  the  greatest  happi- 
ness. He  is  our  Father  in  Holy  Communion,  and  at  all 
times  He  is  our  best  Friend,  our  Brother,  our  Spouse, 
and  our  First-born  (cp.  xiii:33;  xv:  15;  xx:  17;  xiv: 
23  ;  xvi :  21). 

This  joy  of  Easter  can  never  be  taken  away  from 
us ;  even  though  we  should  be  deprived  of  every  tem- 
poral blessing,  we  would  still  have  the  supreme  happi- 
ness of  possessing  Jesus  and  all  things  in  Him.  A  vast 
number  of  men  and  women  in  all  ages  of  the  Church 
have  deliberately  renounced  marriage,  property,  and 
personal  liberty,  saying,  "I  am  nothing,  I  have  nothing, 
and  I  desire  nothing  save  only  the  love  of  Jesus.''    Yet 


SAINT  JOHN  245 


no  one  of  them,  who  was  faithful  to  his  vocation,  has 
ever  been  less  than  supremely  happy. 

Our  Saviour  expresses  the  two  great  delights  of  our 
relation  to  Him  as  being  that  we  see  Him,  and  that  He 
sees  us  (xiv:  19;  xvi:22).  How  unspeakably  great 
must  have  been  the  rapture  of  a  visit  with  the  Risen 
Christ !  And  yet  He  looks  upon  each  of  us  now  with 
that  same  boundless  love,  and  with  the  same  joyful 
Smile  which  comforted  Peter  when  he  sees  us  become 
more  penitent  and  devoted  to  Him  (St.  Luke  xv:  10). 
If  we  would  know  the  fulness  of  pleasure,  we  need 
only  live  in  His  Presence.  As  the  sun-dial  records  none 
but  sunny  hours,  so  ought  we  reckon  that  we  truly  live 
only  during  the  time  we  spend  in  the  light  of  His 
Countenance.  1 

'Stue^liap  matter  tjie  Jfir^t  &unlia^  "attet  dEaiSUr 

^|)e  Jop  of  \\}Z  /(5etD  Hife 

The  very  first  act  of  Christ  upon  His  return  to  the 
Church  was  to  bestow  upon  her  the  new  life  which' 
He  had  purchased  with  His  Own  Blood  on  the  Cross,, 
and  had  brought  to  her  in  His  Risen  Humanity.  And! 
the  way  in  which  He  gave  this,  which  is  the  priceless 
heritage  of  Christendom,  indicates  that  He  was  the 
new  ''Beginning  of  the  creation  of  God"  (Rev.  iii:  14). 
For  as,  at  the  early  dawn  of  existence,  "the  Lord  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,"  so  now  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  new  creation  that  original  endowment  of 
eternal  life,  lost  by  the  Fall,  is  restored,  and  again  it 
is  conveyed  by  the  Sacrament  of  God's  Breath. 
Through  our  Risen  Lord  there  is  offered  to  mankind 
a  second  genesis,  a  new  world  and  the  place  of  children 
in  the  very  household  of  God  (Eph.  ii:  19). 


246  SAINT  JOHN 


But,  inevitably,  the  first  communication  to  souls  of 
the  new  life  thus  committed  to  the  Church  would  be  to 
effect  their  reconciliation  and  union  with  God.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  authority  to  forgive  was  explicitly  con- 
ferred upon  the  Body  of  the  Faithful,  with  full  power 
to  exercise  Christ's  Own  Ministry  of  Reconciliation. 
^*As  My  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you"  were 
the  terms  of  the  Church's  commission ;  and  they  mean 
that  she  is  really  Jesus  Christ  seeking  lost  sinners  in 
the  world,  to  endow  their  dead  souls  with  His  gift  of 
life.  "I  am  the  Light  of  the  World,"  He  said  once, 
■and  again  to  His  Church,  ''Ye  are  the  Light  of  the 
World"  (viii:  12;  St.  Matt,  v:  14). 

Not  only  has  she  her  Lord's  own  authority  to  cleanse 
souls  by  Holy  Baptism ;  she  possesses  also  a  remedy 
for  the  even  greater  iniquity  which  Christians  commit 
against  the  Presence  of  Jesus  within  them,  and  against 
the  life  which  He  has  imparted  to  their  souls.  Through 
her  priest  she  speaks  the  word  of  Absolution  to  each 
contrite  sinner,  upon  the  easy  condition  that  he  tell  her 
his  faults  privately,  and  resolve  to  amend.  On  the 
very  promise  of  Christ,  the  burden  of  his  guilt  is  in- 
stantly done  away,  loosed  in  Heaven  as  the  gracious 
pardon  of  his  Lord  is  pronounced  on  earth  (St.  Matt, 
xviii :  18).  How  wonderfully  it  proves  the  far-seeing 
love  and  care  of  our  Saviour,  that  His  first  thought  on 
His  Resurrection  Day  was  to  provide  a  sacrament  to 
cleanse  away  the  stain  of  treason  from  us.  His  friends 
and  brethren !  1 

daietineiSJliap  rafter  tje  iFit^t  fe)untra^  ^tttr  (Ka0ter 

Consaecration  bp  t^e  Etgcn  Q!r|)rwt 

The  gift  of  new  life  imparted  by  our  Saviour  on 
Easter  Day  is  to  consecrate  us   for  Him,  more  and 


SAINT  JOHN  247 


more,  as  it  fills  us.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  remain 
stationary  in  holiness;  we  must  advance,  or  we  will 
deteriorate.  St.  Bernard  applies  to  this  the  saying  of 
Job  that  'Man  never  continueth  in  one  stay'  (xiv:2). 
But  there  is  the  simplest,  sweetest  and  most  perfect  of 
all  ways  for  us  to  increase  in  perfection,  and  that  is 
through  love  of  Jesus  Risen.  Suppose  we  take,  for 
example,  the  fault  of  ''temper,"  which  is  the  besetting 
sin  of  so  many  souls.  The  cure  suggested  by  Holy 
Scripture  is,  "Kiss  the  Son"  (Ps.  ii:  12).  At  each 
Communion  we  can  consecrate  our  lips  and  tongue  to 
kind  and  gentle  speech,  and  our  hearts  to  loving 
thoughts. 

Jesus  appeared  to  Blessed  Magdalen  in  the  form  of 
a  gardener.  Shall  we  not  let  Him  cultivate  in  our  souls 
the  flowers  of  love? 

"  In  silence  and  alone  He  rose  in  power, 
Even  the  dearest  of  His  Own,  knew  not  the  hour. 
Even  the  Mother  of  His  love  might  not  stand  by, 
Even  the  Angel  Hosts  above  watched  silently. 

"  In  silence  and  alone  Thy  footsteps  trod 
Earth's  garden  fair,  which  was  Thine  Own,  O  Son  of  God 
Come  as  the  morning  mists  unroll  with  roseate  hue, 
And  in  the  garden  of  my  soul  make  all  things  new." 

Hie  Resurrection  life  which  we  receive  from  our 
Saviour  is  the  sole  beauty  and  eternal  ornament  of 
«ur  spirit  and  body.  Now  it  lies  hidden  within  us, 
except  as  it  manifests  itself  in  a  life  consecrated  to 
Him  and  to  our  brethren;  but  at  His  coming,  it  shall 
be  revealed  (Rom.  viii:  18).  We  must  let  Him  impart 
it  to  us  "more  abundantly"  through  our  spiritual  life 
and  the  sacraments. 


24<  SAINT  JOHN 


6t  ^|)oma0  duffereH  to  Doubt  t^e  ffie^urtection 

There  are  several  possible  reasons  for  doubt  about 
the  Faith.  It  may  be  due  to  the  will  being  weak  and 
the  mind  clouded  by  sin.  A  man  once  said  to  Pascal, 
"O,  if  I  only  believed  what  you  believe,  I  would  be  a 
better  man."  "Begin  by  being  a  better  man,  and  you 
will  soon  believe  what  I  believe,"  the  philosopher  an- 
swered. St.  Thomas,  however,  was  too  good  a  soul 
to  conceive  doubt  in  this  way.  Then,  it  may  arise  from 
an  intellectual  difficulty.  But  the  doubting  Apostle  had 
seen  Qirist  raise  Lazarus  from  death,  and  he  must 
have  supposed  that  He  could  come  forth  from  His  Own 
tomb.  A  third  cause  of  doubt  is  the  fact  that  one 
cares  so  much ;  and  this  was  the  difficulty  with  St. 
Thomas.  The  Resurrection  meant  so  much  to  him, 
that  he  was  afraid  it  could  not  be  so.  Add  to  this  that 
he  was  trying  to  puzzle  out  by  himself  the  mystery  of 
Christ's  Death,  and  that  he  demanded  ocular  proof  of 
the  Resurrection,  and  we  have  the  three  most  prolific 
sources  of  skepticism. 

His  experience  reveals  to  us  that  our  Risen  Lord 
was  as  willing  as  ever  to  teach  a  soul  in  the  way  it 
could  best  receive  the  truth.  The  Cross  stood  plain 
before  St.  Thomas.  How  red  and  gaping  were  the 
Wounds !  But  through  the  love  of  our  Lord,  the  very 
Marks  of  His  Crucifixion,  which  had  been  the  cause 
of  the  Apostle's  despair,  became  the  means  of  bringing 
him  to  the  fulness  of  faith.  "Reach  hither  thy  finger, 
and  behold  My  Hands,"  He  said  to  the  Apostle,  "and 
reach  hither  thy  hand  and  thrust  it  into  My  Side  and 
be  not  faithless  but  believing." 

St.  Thomas  was  peculiarly  well  fitted  to  bear  the 


SAINT  JOHN  249 


most  convincing  witness  to  the  Resurrection.  St.  Peter 
was  too  impulsive  in  leaping  to  a  conclusion,  and  the 
Apostle  of  Love  was  too  devoted  to  our  Lord  for 
skepticism.  But  St.  Thomas  would  believe  only  on 
sight.  The  evidence,  however,  convinced  him  so  com- 
pletely that  he  made  an  act  of  faith,  which  expresses 
the  loftiest  view  of  our  Lord  given  in  the  Gospels. 
Even  so,  our  failures  and  sins,  will,  if  we  permit,  be 
overruled  by  the  grace  of  Christ  to  our  soul's  welfare 
and  to  His  glory.  i 

ifritiap  jattft  X\t  JFit0t  ^unliap  Sitter  Chaster 

Spiritual  Capital  for  feeus  Kigcn 

There  is  truth  in  the  suggestion  that  each  one  of  the 
Evangelists  emphasizes  a  particular  view  of  the  Resur- 
rection. St.  Mark  devotes  himself  to  presenting  the 
fact  itself ;  St.  Matthew  shows  the  Majesty  and  Glory 
of  the  Risen  Christ ;  St.  Luke  brings  out  the  spiritual 
necessity  of  His  Rising;  and  St.  John  teaches  that  the 
Resurrection  was  a  touchstone  of  character.  The  truth 
of  this  last  view  is  remarkably  illustrated  by  the  way 
in  which  St.  Thomas  is  revealed  in  the  light  of  Easter. 
We  know  him  better  from  two  brief  episodes  in  rela- 
tion to  this  Mystery,  than  we  could  from  the  biography 
of  his  whole  previous  Hfe. 

He  had  one  very  great  virtue,  sincerity.  When  he 
did  not  know  the  way  which  his  Master  was  pointing 
out  to  him,  he  said  so,  frankly  (xiv:5).  When  he 
thought  it  certain  that  Jesus  was  going  to  suffer  Death, 
he  had  no  thought  but  to  die  with  Him  (xi :  i6).  "He 
will  die  for  the  love  he  has,  but  he  will  not  affect  the 
faith  which  he  has  not." 

The  one  especially  good  quality  in  our  character, 
like  this  virtue  of  sincerity  in  St.  Thomas,  is  our  Lord's 


250  SAINT  JOHN 


capital  invested  in  us.  It  is  the  ''talent"  which  He  has 
loaned  to  us,  expecting  to  receive  it  back  with  ''usury." 
St.  Thomas,  being  honest,  accepted  valid  proof  when 
it  was  offered  him,  and,  consequently,  was  led  to  faith 
in  three  important  truths,  as  his  great  confession 
shows:  He  now  believed  in  the  Resurrection,  and  in 
the  Deity  of  Christ,  and  that  he  participated  in  both 
through  possessing  the  Risen  Jesus.  Therefore  he 
cried,  ''My  Lord  and  my  God."  Let  us  strive  to  make 
as  great  a  gain  this  Eastertide  through  the  principal 
gift  which  Christ  has  entrusted  to  us. 

featuttiap  matter  tSe  JFir^t  &untiap  matter  (Carter 

W^t  Kioen  Qlt^rigt  tl)e  anistDer  to  6^olifrn  (ffirrorjs 

One  of  the  commonest  attacks  upon  our  Faith  is  the 
denial  of  our  Lord's  Bodily  Resurrection.  There  are 
many  proofs  of  this  fundamental  Christian  truth,  how- 
ever, which  our  assailants  have  never  been  able  to  an- 
swer even  to  the  satisfaction  of  one  another:  the 
empty  Tomb,  the  apparently  honest  testimony  of  the 
eye  witnesses,  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  and  the 
existence  of  the  Catholic  Church,  are  all  facts  which 
remain  inexplicable,  unless  Jesus  rose.  But  let  us  take 
only  the  one  little  fact  that  the  ancient  day  of  worship, 
the  Sabbath,  was,  at  the  very  beginning  of  Christian- 
ity, changed  to  Sunday.  If  our  Lord  had  simply  con- 
summated a  Life  of  unparalleled  holiness  and  love  by 
a  supreme  act  of  Self-sacrifice  on  the  Cross,  the  Apos- 
tolic Church  might  have  adopted  Friday  as  her  "Lord's 
Day,"  but  she  would  never  have  appointed  Sunday. 
The  only  natural  explanation  of  her  choice  is  that 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 


SAINT  JOHN  251 


It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  upon  the  truth  of  the 
Easter  Gospel  depend  the  dignity  and  happiness  of  our 
human  life.  For  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  was  the 
last  and  greatest  of  the  ''signs"  by  which  He  proved 
Himself  to  be  the  Christ,  the  Object  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment types  and  prophecies,  and  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Fulfiller  of  the  hope  of  all  mankind.  Only  through 
believing  in  Him  can  we  have  life  that  is  worthy  of 
the  name  {yv.  30  f.). 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  however,  that  modern 
paganism  resents  the  teaching  of  the  Resurrection. 
For  by  bursting  the  bonds  which  bound  His  Body  in 
death,  He  showed  that  He  was  not  merely  "Flesh"  but 
truly  the  Son  of  God,  and  this  conflicts  with  all  sys- 
tems of  materialism.  On  the  other  hand,  He  proved 
that  His  Risen  Body  was  real  and  was  the  immortal 
counterpart  of  His  Soul  whereby  He  rebukes  modern 
''Spiritism,"  with  its  false  emphasis  on  the  soul  and  its 
scorn  of  the  flesh.  Then,  let  us  hold  as  a  sacred  trust 
for  our  brethren  outside  the  Fold  the  saving  truth  of 
the  Easter  Christ. 


antil  a0cen)5ion  Da?»  Read  St.  John  xxi 

%\z  Second  &antiap  "after  Carter 

Ideate  ^Tljroucl)  tlje  Ewfn  ILorli 

Peace,  like  Truth,  'flourished  out  of  the  earth'  at 
Easter.  Almost  the  last  word  Jesus  spoke  before  leav- 
ing the  Upper  Room  on  the  night  before  His  Passion 
was  "Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  peace  I  give  unto 
you,"  and  His  greeting  to  the  Apostles,  upon  His 
return  after  the  Resurrection,  was  "Peace  be  unto 
you."    After  He  had  shown  them  His  Hands  and  Side 


252  SAINT  JOHN 


and  they  knew  that  it  was  indeed  their  Lord,  Whom 
they  had  last  seen  hanging  upon  the  Cross,  He  re- 
peated the  solemn,  sweet  benediction,  'Teace  be  unto 
you"  (xiv:27;  xx:i9,  21).  He  had  brought  them 
peace  upon  peace,  the  reward  of  His  Suffering  and  the 
gift  of  His  Resurrection. 

The  peace  of  Easter  could  come  only  through  the 
strife  of  Calvary.  Jesus  Himself  said,  "Ought  not  the 
Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things,  and  to  enter  into 
His  glory  ?"  meaning  that  only  by  the  Way  of  the  Cross 
could  He  bring  to  His  Own  the  blessings  of  His  glo- 
rious Risen  Life.  It  was  the  failure  of  the  Apostles 
to  understand  this  essential  relation  between  Good 
Friday  and  Easter  which  led  to  their  being  unpre- 
pared for  the  return  of  their  Crucified  Saviour.  Since 
they  had  not  been  able  to  accept  His  Death,  they  had 
also  missed  His  Resurrection,  for  it  was  bound  up  with 
His  Passion  as  one  transaction  of  Divine  Love.  For 
Him  and  for  us,  there  must  be  first  the  battle  with 
mortal  foes,  and  then  eternal  peace. 

In  the  calm  trustfulness  of  the  Apostles,  after  they 
returned  to  Galilee  to  keep  the  tryst  with  Christ,  we 
see  how  effectual  the  new  peace  had  already  become 
in  their  lives.  They  went  back  to  their  ordinary  work, 
and  waited  quietly  for  a  sign  from  their  Lord  to  deter- 
mine their  future  course  {v.  3).  Amid  all  the  excite- 
ment of  the  first  Eastertide,  and  their  wonderful  gifts 
of  the  new  life,  and  mission,  and  power  to  reconcile 
and  absolve,  there  was  in  their  hearts  the  deep  repose 
of  supernatural  peace.  They  prove  to  us  that  we  can 
have  the  very  peace  of  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  confusion, 
and  uncertainty  as  to  the  future. 


SAINT  JOHN  253 


S^onDap  i^Lttet  t^e  Second  ^untia^  9SiiXtt  Ca0Ut 

^^riist  anH  tfje  €|)utct)  on  Cartit) 

As  our  Lord  stood  on  the  shore  of  the  Lake,  His 
Fig-ure  dimly  discernible  in  the  half-light  of  the  dawn, 
and  altered  by  a  certain  strange  Majesty,  He  was  hard- 
ly nearer  to  the  Apostles  in  the  boat,  than  He  is  to  us 
to-day.  Where  two  or  three  of  us  are  gathered  to- 
gether, there  is  He  in  the  midst;  He  comes  to  our 
altars  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament  whenever  we  desire, 
and,  in  His  Godhead,  dwells  in  each  Christian  heart. 
But,  while  He  comes  so  very  close  to  us,  it  requires 
loving  sympathy  to  perceive  Him.  Thus,  only  "the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved"  recognized  Him.  "He  was 
able  to  read  in  a  moment  by  a  certain  sympathy  with 
Christ  the  meaning"  of  the  miraculous  draught  {v.  7). 
Yet,  he  ascribes  this  gift  of  insight,  not  to  himself,  but 
to  his  Master.  His  title  is  not  a  boast,  here  or  else- 
where, but  a  thanksgiving  for  the  boundless  love  which 
Jesus  had  bestowed  upon  him  in  giving  him  the  power 
of  discerning  His  Presence.  Everyone  of  us  is  the 
object  of  that  same  Divine  Charity,  and  may  for  the 
asking  obtain  from  our  Lord  an  increased  gift  of  dis- 
cerning Him  within  ourselves  or  under  Sacramental 
veils. 

He  abides  with  His  Church  on  earth  and  with  each 
soul  of  His  people,  in  order  to  provide  for  our  salva- 
tion, even  in  small  details.  "Children,"  He  called  to 
the  Apostles  on  the  Lake,  "have  ye  aught  to  eat"? 
It  was  the  same  loving  care  which  had  made  Him  direct 
that  food  should  be  given  to  the  little  daughter  of 
Jairus,  and  that  St.  Lazarus  should  be  loosed  from 
the  uncomfortable  bands  in  which  his  body  had  been 
swathed  (St.  Luke  viii :  55  ;  St.  John  xi :  44). 


254  SAINT  JOHN 


Nor  will  He  long  deny  us  the  supreme  happiness  of 
seeing  His  Face.  Already  the  day  is  breaking.  Surely 
for  us  the  midnight  of  Judas'  treason  is  past  forever ; 
we  are  living  in  the  dawn  of  Peter's  penitence,  and  the 
morning  is  brightening  around  us  as  we  advance  little 
by  little  in  righteousness,  toward  our  Saviour  on  the 
Eternal  Shore.  . 

tCutfiStiap  matter  V^z  feeconti  feundap  ^iitt  CKastet 

jpleeinc  to  C|)ri6t  in  Contrition 

It  is  one  of  the  favorite  devices  of  the  devil  to  lead 
us  into  sin,  first,  and  then  persuade  us  that  since  we 
have  fallen  we  might  as  well  continue  indulging  our- 
selves, or  at  least  postpone  seeking  forgiveness,  until 
our  next  confession  or  communion.  In  this  way  he 
deludes  souls  into  multiplying  the  first  fault  so  that 
God  is  much  more  dishonored,  than  if  they  had  at 
once  sought  pardon  for  the  broken  resolution,  or  com- 
mandment. We  may  gain  from  the  experience  of  St. 
Peter  some  valuable  instruction  in  rejecting  this  evil 
counsel  of  the  Tempter.  When  he  first  realized  his 
guilt  in  the  Eyes  of  his  all-holy  Master,  he  would 
have  driven  Jesus  away  from  him,  so  great  was  his 
shame  and  suffering  in  the  Divine  Presence  (St.  Luke 
v:8).  We  also  feel  this  disposition  to  escape  from 
our  Saviour  when  we  have  fallen  into  pride  or  anger 
or  whatever  our  besetting  sin  may  be. 

He  had  made  a  great  gain  in  true  penitence,  how- 
ever, when  we  obtain  a  second  view  of  his  heart  (vi: 
68).  Christ  had  oflFered  Himself  to  His  Disciples  as 
the  very  Bread  of  Heaven  and  many  had  deserted  Him, 
in  consequence.  But  although  He  made  a  great  de- 
mand on  the  faith  of  the  Apostles,  also,  St.  Peter  had 


SAINT  JOHN  255 


learned  now  that  above  all  things  he  must  cleave  to  his 
Master.  "Lord,"  he  declared,  "to  whom  shall  we  go? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life/'  And,  no  matter 
how  bad  our  fall  should  be,  we  must  in  the  first  mo- 
ment afterward,  resolve  that  we  will  hold  fast  to  Jesus. 
Dear  St.  Peter  manifested  the  consummation  of  his 
training,  there  at  the  Lake,  when  he  saw  his  Risen 
Master  on  the  shore  and  swam  to  Him.  He  fully 
realized  his  need  of  forgiveness  for  his  three  denials, 
but  his  first  thought  was  to  reach  the  Feet  of  his  Lord 
with  all  speed.  Let  us,  after  his  example,  rise  up  im- 
mediately from  our  fall,  not  even  waiting  for  our  next 
devotions,  flee  at  once  to  Jesus,  and  beg  His  ready  for- 
giveness. X 

dflledm^tiap  matter  i^t  feeconti  &unDa? 
Mitt  (lEa0Ur 

^l)e  Jot  of  l^olp  Communion 

It  is  the  Risen  Qirist  Whom  we  receive  in  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  and  this  fact  relieves  our  faith 
in  the  Divine  Mysteries  of  many  of  its  difficulties. 
For  His  Humanity  existed  in  a  new  mode  after  the 
Resurrection,  so  that  it  possessed  many  of  the  qualities 
of  a  spirit.  Accordingly,  when  every  opening  of  the 
Upper  Room  was  tightly  closed,  "came  Jesus  and  stood 
in  the  midst."  He  had  passed  through  the  solid  wall, 
and  was  present  among  them  even  before  He  was  vis- 
ible. Then,  He  willed  that  His  Body  should  be  ex- 
tended so  that  it  would  fill  space  and  they  would  sec 
Him ;  but  He  was  not  a  whit  more  really  there  in  His 
Manhood  after  He  gave  It  extension,  when  they  could 
see  His  Wounds  and  feel  His  Flesh  and  Bones,  than 
while  It  remained  unextended,  occupying  no  length,  or 


256  SAINT  JOHN 


breadth  or  thickness  of  space.  In  the  same  way,  His 
spirit-like  Humanity  is  present  in  the  tiniest  portion 
of  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

We  learn  a  great  lesson  about  believing  in  the  Holy 
Communion,  from  the  doubt  and  the  great  faith  of  St. 
Thomas.  He  demanded  and  received  the  opportunity 
of  thrusting  His  Hand  into  the  sacred  Wounds.  Yet, 
as  St.  Austin  observes,  "he  saw  and  touched  Man  and 
confessed  God  Whom  he  saw  not  nor  touched."  His 
eyes  beheld  the  outward  and  visible  Sign  of  Jesu's 
Manhood,  but  he  believed  in  the  inward,  invisible  Per- 
son. ''In  His  example,  it  is  seen  that  faith  is  not  meas- 
ured by  sight." 

One  blessing  we  receive  only  when  we  gather  about 
"God's  Board."  There  alone  dear  Jesus  is  to  us  as  a 
Father  among  His  children.  We  observe  a  significant 
difference  between  the  word  for  "little  children"  which 
He  used  just  after  Holy  Communion,  in  the  Upper 
Room,  and  that  by  which  He  addressed  the  Apostles 
on  the  Lake  (xiii:  33 ;  v.  5).  Only  the  former  implies 
the  relationship  of  paternity  toward  His  Own.  When 
He  has  imparted  to  us  His  Own  Flesh  and  Blood,  at 
the  Altar,  we  are  His  little  children,  and  He  is  our 
Everlasting  Father.  v 

<ar6atjE(liap  jaftett^e  fetconti  feundap  matter  C^a^tet 

{^reparations  for  {^olp  Communion  anD  ^^anftecibinQ 

The  principle  of  all  external  preparation  for  the 
coming  of  our  Lord  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  that 
we  should  do  our  utmost,  by  flowers  and  lights  and 
vestments,  to  show  our  reverence  for  Him.  The  spirit 
of  the  Church  in  this  regard  is  the  same  as  that  which 
moved  St.  Peter  to  wrap  his  fisher's  frock  around  him 


SAINT  JOHN  257 


before  he  appeared  in  the  Divine  Presence.  Through- 
out the  night  he  had  kept  it  in  his  locker,  for  fear  it 
should  be  splashed  in  the  fishing,  but  now  he  put  it  on 
and  plunged  into  the  water.  In  the  same  way,  we 
ought  to  be  much  more  careful  and  generous  in  mak- 
ing the  place  of  the  Lord's  feet  glorious,  than  in 
adorning  our  house  or  ourselves. 

Our  interior  preparation  is  even  more  important. 
As  dear  Peter  no  longer  desired  to  walk  upon  the 
waves  to  Jesus,  but,  with  mingled  penitence,  self-sacri- 
fice and  love,  flung  himself  into  the  sea  and  swam  to 
Him,  so  must  the  Christian  approach  Him  at  the 
Altar,  with  lowly  contrition  and  devotion.  Let  our 
souls  be  very  empty,  and  have  a  great  capacity.  "We 
go  to  our  Communion  too  often  with  a  thimbleful  of 
faith,"  says  a  devout  Bishop,  "and  we  come  back  with 
a  thimbleful  of  grace."  Moreover,  we  must  remember 
that  it  is  for  us  to  make  up  to  our  Lord,  by  our  love, 
for  the  hostility  of  His  enemies,  and  the  coldness  of 
the  world. 

After  our  Communion  will  come  our  thanksgiving. 
For  if  our  Lord  in  His  High-Priestly  prayer  thanked 
His  Father  for  giving  us  to  Him,  ought  not  we  to 
thank  God  for  giving  Him  to  us  ?  He  needed  nothing ; 
we  need  all  things,  and  find  all  things  in  Him. 

JFtiHap  attet  tje  &econti  ^untia^  atur  Carter 

It  is  remarkable  that  our  Lord  commanded  the  Apos- 
tles to  bring  some  of  the  fish  which  they  had  caught, 
when  in  fact  He  meant  to  feed  them  with  those  of  His 
own  providing  (z/zr.  9-12).  He  seems  to  have  intended 
to  impress  upon  them  in  this  way  the  obligation  of 


258  SAINT  JOHN 


using  His  gifts.  But  if  He  felt  it  necessary  to  teach 
them  this  in  regard  to  a  mere  material  thing,  how 
greatly  He  must  wish  us  to  realize  that  we  may  not 
receive  His  precious  gift  of  grace  in  vain !  (cp.  2  Cor. 
Ti:i). 

It  should  be  our  greatest  anxiety,  therefore,  always 
to  communicate  profitably.  Every  opportunity  or 
privilege  is  attended  by  the  danger  that  by  accepting  it 
we  incur  increased  responsibility.  Saul  was  the  worse 
for  kingship,  Balaam  for  the  gift  of  prophecy,  Judas 
for  Apostleship,  Simon  Magus  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But,  in  these  and  similar  cases,  the  final  catastrophe  is 
always  due  to  the  fact  that,  along  with  the  blessing 
from  God,  the  soul  has  been  tolerating  a  habit  of  sin. 
As  long  as  we  are  manfully  fighting  our  vices,  we 
ought  to  receive  the  Blessed  Sacrament  the  more  fre- 
quently, in  proportion  to  our  need  of  spiritual  strength. 

But  not  only  must  we  serve  Christ  with  undivided 
allegiance;  we  must  use  the  larger  measure  of  grace 
given  us  for  some  spiritual  enterprise  on  His  behalf. 
How  great  would  be  the  value  of  our  communions,  if 
at  each  we  asked  for  some  special  grace,  and  then 
strove  to  use  it  for  Him  until  our  next  time  to  receive 
Him !  By  this  method,  we  would  very  soon  make  a 
considerable  profit  for  our  Saviour  in  our  spiritual 
business.  1 

featuma?  matter  tje  &f conti  §)untiap  ^f tet  (Kajs^ter 

S|)e  i^uT.ilitp  of  Cljnct's  acfnte 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  sent  by  Him  out  upon  the 
troubled  waters  of  the  world  to  fish  for  men.  But  her 
angling  would  be  as  inefifectual  as  that  of  the  seven 
disciples  on  the  lake  during  their  long  night  of  fail- 
ure, if  He  did  not  guide  her  to  cast  her  net  on  the  right 


SAINT  JOHN  259 


side.  They  found,  only  a  boat's  width  from  where 
they  had  been  unsuccessfully  fishing,  the  greatest  haul 
of  the  season.  And  the  Qiurch,  as  she  obeys  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  the  Master  Fisherman,  is  learning  to  let 
down  her  Gospel  net  in  missions  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  in  the  hitherto  undisturbed  depths  of  parishes, 
where  she  encloses  multitudes  of  souls. 

The  individual  servant  of  our  Risen  Master,  like  the 
Body  of  the  Faithful,  depends  absolutely  upon  Him 
for  guidance  and  power.  St.  Peter  was  a  fisherman, 
by  trade  and  lifelong  habit,  and  was  poorly  equipped 
for  the  Apostolate.  Yet  he  found  that  Christ  could 
develop  the  fisherman  into  an  Apostle,  while  the 
Apostle  could  not  of  himself  successfully  become  a 
fisherman  again.  Without  Jesus  Christ  we  can  do 
nothing. 

Our  Risen  Master  is  Himself  the  great  example  of 
the  perfect  servant.  How  like  the  mother  of  a  family 
He  was !  He  had  cooked  the  breakfast  for  His  chil- 
dren before  dawn;  and  when  they  shyly  stood  back, 
afraid  to  approach  the  meal  in  response  to  His  invita- 
tion, "Come  and  dine,"  He  took  the  bread  and  fish  to 
them,  and  waited  upon  them  with  His  own  Hands. 
"To  serve  Him  is  to  reign."  To  labor  for  His  King- 
dom, however  obscurely,  is  to  sit  with  Him  upon  the 
throne  of  the  universe,  for  it  is  to  share  in  that  Love 
which  makes  the  world  go  round. 

W^t  CouraQf  of  €^rt!St'0  Sfrbantis 

Through  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  our  Lord 
taught  the  Apostles  the  great  lesson  of  courage.  Early 
in  His  Ministry  He  had  enabled  them  to  make  a  similar 


260  SAINT  JOHN 


catch,  with  the  purpose  of  forewarning  them  that  the 
Church  MiHtant  would  contain  unworthy  Christians, 
and  be  subject  to  disasters,  and  even  divisions  (St. 
Luke  v:  i  ff.)-  But  on  this  occasion  the  net  enclosed 
only  good  fish,  and  was  not  rent,  nor  were  the  boats 
sinking.  This  draught  also  was  exactly  numbered, 
and  was  safely  drawn  up  on  the  shore  to  our  Lord's 
Feet,  whereas  the  other  was  an  uncounted  "multitude" 
of  fish,  which  were  left  in  the  boats.  Accordingly,  the 
miracle  indicated  that  the  Apostles  were  to  confide 
absolutely  in  the  success  of  their  ministry.  For  the 
most  part,  those  who  were  taken  in  the  net  of  Christ's 
Body  would  continue  to  be  His,  and  would  finally 
reach  His  Presence  in  safety. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  contrary  to  what  was  His 
invariable  custom  during  His  Ministry,  our  Lord 
neither  invoked  a  blessing  upon  the  breakfast,  nor  gave 
thanks  for  it.  Very  probably  He  meant  to  impress 
upon  the  Eleven  that  all  dominion  in  Heaven  and  earth 
had  been  given  into  His  Hands  at  His  Resurrection, 
so  that  they  were  to  ascribe  the  Food  to  His  Provi- 
dence (St.  Matt.  xxviii:i8).  The  Church  is  now 
under  the  rule  of  her  Redeemer,  and  He  is  wielding 
His  unlimited  power  for  the  success  of  every  one  of 
His  servants  (i  Cor.  xv:25f¥.). 

The  food  with  which  He  fed  His  "children"  was  that 
which  He  had  Himself  provided.  Thus  He  made  them 
understand  that  He  would  satisfy  the  spiritual  hunger 
of  His  Own,  in  Heaven,  most  of  all  with  the  joys  He 
has  prepared  for  those  who  love  Him,  and  only  in  a 
subsidiary  way  by  the  blessed  results  of  their  ministry. 


SAINT  JOHN  261 


9pontia^  jitter  t^e  Wm^  ^untiap  ^iitt  C^a^Ut: 

Hotie  t|)e  Ba0i0  of  drrbicr 

The  three  questions  which  our  Lord  asked  St.  Petef 
constitute,  as  has  been  well  said,  the  ''examination 
paper  of  a  disciple"  {yv.  15-18).  They  leave  no  ques- 
tion that  what  God  most  desires  to  see  developing  in 
our  souls  is  His  gift  of  love,  and  that  this  most 
dynamic  virtue  is  the  basis  of  our  service. 

Even  such  a  saint  as  dear  Peter  was  still  far  from 
perfect  in  Divine  Charity,  after  years  spent  in  the  fel- 
lowship of  Incarnate  God.  We  see  the  slowness  of 
his  development  reflected  in  the  gradual  way  in  which 
he  came  to  deserve  his  glorious  title,  "Peter,"  the 
"Rock-man."  After  foretelling  that  he  would  some 
day  fitly  bear  this  name,  our  Lord  rarely  called  him  by 
it;  the  three  earlier  Evangelists  assigned  it  to  him 
ordinarily  in  episodes  showing  his  love ;  St.  }ohn, 
writing  after  St.  Peter  had  made  the  supreme  sacri- 
fice, always  used  it.  We  ordinary  folk,  therefore,  must 
not  despair  if  we  find  that  we  have  yet  to  grow  in  the 
fundamental  quality  of  true  service. 

The  very  first  application  which  the  "Prince  of  the 
Apostles"  was  to  make  of  his  love  was  to  children, 
"Feed  my  lambs,"  his  Master  commanded.  Accord- 
ingly, Christians  have  always  considered  this  one  of 
their  most  important  duties.  Are  we  then  feeding  our 
Lord's  little  ones?  Or  are  we  committing  the  almost 
universal  sins  against  them  of  criticizing  and  praising 
them  in  their  presence,  punishing  them  in  anger,  and, 
worse  than  all,  failing  to  "bring  them  up  in  the  nur- 
ture and  admonition  of  the  Lord"?  (Eph.  vi:  4.)  Let 
us  strive  to  fulfill  perfectly  the  high  vocation  of 
parents,  that  our  sons  may  grow  up  as  the  dear  Plant 


262  SAINT  JOHN 


which  flourished  out  of  the  ground  at  Easter,  and  our 
daughters  be  as  the  immaculate  Cornerstone  of  the? 
Heavenly  Temple  (Ps.  cxliv:i2). 

^iflUine  to  C3agtoraI  Direction 

It  was  a  new  task  our  Lord  assigned  to  the  fisher- 
man, when  He  appointed  him  to  be  a  shepherd.  And 
we  may  be  sure  that  when  He  commissioned  St.  Peter 
in  terms  of  the  pastoral  office,  rather  than  in  those  of 
his  lifelong  trade,  it  was  with  an  important  purpose. 
For  souls  which  have  been  caught  up  "out  of  the  deep" 
and  brought  to  shore  must  not  be  thought  of  as  fish 
safely  landed,  but  as  sheep  requiring  a  shepherd. 

"Tend  my  little  sheep,"  was  the  Good  Shepherd's 
second  command  to  St.  Peter  {y.  i6  literally  trans- 
lated). Souls  just  beginning  the  spiritual  life,  with  all 
its  problems,  temptations  and  troubles  before  them, 
must  have  the  direction  of  a  wise  and  good  pastor. 
And  when  we  consider  that  the  shepherd  of  our  Lord's 
country  knew  every  one  of  his  charges  by  name, 
watched  over  it  separately,  fed  and  defended  it,  and 
bound  up  its  wounds,  we  know  that  He  expects  the 
pastor  of  souls  to  give  his  loving  care  to  their  individ- 
ual needs. 

The  third  and  final  direction  to  the  Apostle  was, 
"Feed  my  sheep."  It  is  important  to  observe  that  the 
Good  Shepherd  directed  His  minister  to  feed,  rather 
than  lend,  these  mature  members  of  His  Flock.  He 
seems  to  mean  that  those  who  have  in  a  measure 
learned  the  devout  life  will  need  rather  the  grace  of 
Absolution  than  spiritual  direction.  For  the  purpose 
of  pastoral  guidance  is  to  develop  and  train  the  spirit- 


SAINT  JOHN  263 


ual  faculties  of  souls  so  that  commonly  they  will  grow 
to  have  less  and  less  need  of  counsel.  May  the  Divine 
Shepherd  hasten  the  day  when  the  tender  pastoral  rela- 
tion shall  be  maintained,  in  love  and  wisdom,  toward 
lambs,  little  sheep,  and  fully  grown  sheep,  throughout 
this  part  of  His  Fold.  l 

(lflleDne0tiap  matter  tje  USitti  ^untiap  ^litt  (Ea^ttt 

ILoftH  '^xm^  ant  ^oUwt  Claimjs 

Our  Saviour's  question,  **Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lov- 
cst  thou  Me?"  was,  as  the  verb  shows,  an  appeal  for 
Divine  Charity  (agape), — that  "complete,  profound, 
eternal"  devotion,  which  is  for  God  in  Himself.  But, 
even  when  He  had  asked  for  this  a  second  time,  St. 
Peter  would  only  claim  the  less  perfect  love  (philia), 
consisting  in  personal  attachment  to  the  God-Man 
through  devotion  to  His  Manhood.  Always  afterward, 
moreover,  throughout  his  life,  Peter  shrank,  in  self- 
abasement,  from  saying  that  he  possessed  Divine  Char- 
ity. He  attributed  it  to  his  people,  but  he  would  never 
credit  himself  with  any  other  love  of  God  except  his 
response  to  the  tenderness  of  Jesus'  Heart  (i  St. 
Pet.  i:8). 

Even  this  love  for  the  Sacred  Humanity,  he  attrib- 
uted to  himself,  only  on  the  testimony  of  his  Master. 
*'Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee,"  he  kept  saying.  He 
would  not  trust  his  own  clear  consciousness  of  devoted 
affection  for  his  Saviour. 

In  His  third  question,  therefore,  Christ  yielded  to 
him,  and  asked  for  the  less  perfect  charity.  But  this 
especially  grieved  St.  Peter.  For,  first,  the  very  repe- 
titions made  it  seem  as  if  Jesus  did  not  know  that  he 
loved  Him;  secondly,  he  was  reminded  of  his  three 
denials ;  and,  thirdly,  the  inquiry  now  was  as  to  his 


264  SAINT  JOHN 


really  having  even  the  love  for  Christ  which  he  had 
claimed.  But,  while  he  doubted  whether  the  other 
Apostles  would  ever  believe  in  him  again,  and  although 
he  would  not  trust  himself,  yet  he  relied  absolutely 
upon  his  Master's  Divine  knowledge  of  his  heart  (v. 
17).  There  are,  therefore,  in  the  episode,  these  les- 
sons :  we  must  strive  to  return  the  love  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity ;  we  must  be  very  diffident  about  our  having 
achieved  perfect  charity,  and  we  must  confide  abso- 
lutely in  the  kindness  of  Jesus'  judgment  of  us. 

^Jtttjaftiap  atter  tje  tCfiird  feandap  matter  (Cajsut 

^eiste  of  £Dur  dpiritualitp 

It  is  the  unexpected  which  tests  our  whole  previous 
spiritual  progress.  Thus  Jesus  suddenly  appeared  to 
Blessed  Magdalen  as  a  gardener,  and  her  exact  degree 
of  development  in  knowledge  of  Him  was  immediately 
laid  bare.  "In  another  form,"  He  joined  the  two 
going  to  Emmaus ;  like  a  spirit.  He  penetrated  into  the 
midst  of  the  Apostles,  once  and  again;  and  as  a 
stranger  He  "showed  Himself"  to  the  Seven  on  the 
Lake.  And  the  result  of  His  coming  unexpectedly 
upon  these  souls  was  that  the  spiritual  progress  of 
Cleopas  and  his  fellow,  and  of  Thomas,  and  of  Peter, 
was  at  once  revealed.  Now,  He  appears  to  us  under 
the  disguise  of  sudden  happenings,  and  our  reaction 
upon  these  is  usually  a  good,  and  a  humbling,  test  of 
our  development  thus  far. 

For  example,  we  are  likely  to  discover,  at  such  mo- 
ments, how  little  we  really  trust  in  the  ever-present 
Providence  of  God.  We  are  like  the  Apostles  in  their 
slowness  to  credit  the  Resurrection.  They  had  several 
times  seen  Christ  exercise  sovereign  power  over  death ; 


SAINT  JOHN  265 


and  as  Jews  they  knew  that  He  would  rise  again  at 
the  last  Day.  It  was  not  the  past  or  future  working  of 
God,  therefore,  but  the  present,  which  they  doubted; 
and  so  it  is  with  us. 

A  very  few  experiments,  then,  will  convince  us  that 
we  are  progressing,  if  at  all,  by  steps  almost  invisibly 
small.  Yet,  if  we  are  trying  earnestly,  we  must  not 
be  discouraged.  God  ordinarily  proceeds  slowly  in 
transforming  His  creatures.  An  observer  in  a  South- 
ern garden  will  be  impressed  by  the  series  of  infinites- 
imal gradations  between  a  moth  and  a  humming-bird. 
Perhaps  this  indicates  the  Creator's  method  with  our 
souls.  At  least,  He  is  very  patient  with  us  in  His  great 
charity  as  we  painfully  struggle  through  one  conver- 
sion after  another,  putting  oflf  the  "old  man"  and  put- 
ting on  the  New.  l 

jFtitiaj  iatur  tjie  Ufiitd  feuntiap  ^f ur  d^ajefter 

Dur  3nbii0ible  (^eati 

There  are  many  indications  that  the  purpose  of  our 
Risen  Lord's  appearance  on  the  Lake  shore  was  to 
reveal  truths  of  unique  importance.  For,  first,  the 
draught  of  fishes  is  the  only  recorded  miracle  wrought 
by  Him  after  the  Resurrection.  Again,  it  was  one  of 
the  two  ''Signs"  which  were  intended  primarily  for  the 
instruction  of  the  Apostles  alone  (cp.  St.  Matt,  xvii: 
24-27).  Finally,  it  was  really  doubled  by  the  super- 
natural provision  of  fish  and  bread,  and  for  this  reason 
it  stands  quite  alone  in  the  Bible.  Now,  the  principal 
lesson  thus  impressively  introduced  was  the  perpetual 
Providence  of  Jesus,  our  unseen  Head. 

For  He  was  educating  the  Apostles  to  believe  in  His 
invisible  Presence  and  power.  Accordingly,  He  did 
not  now  show  them  His  Wounds,  so  that  they  felt  the 


266  SAINT  JOHN 


lack  of  that  certainty  based  upon  sight  which  had 
hitherto  been  granted  them  {v.  13).  They,  like  us, 
must  know  Him  now  by  the  signs  of  His  working  with 
the  Church. 

May  He  teach  us,  as  He  instructed  the  Eleven,  to 
realize  His  continual  nearness,  that  we  may  have  fel- 
lowship with  Him  as  truly  as  the  Apostles  did. 

"  We  may  not  climb  the  heavenly  steeps, 
To  bring  the  Lord  Christ  down  ; 
In  vain  we  search  the  lowest  deeps, 
For  him  no  depths  can  drown. 

But  warm,  sweet,  tender,  even  yet 

A  present  help  is  he  ; 
And  faith  has  stiil  its  Olivet, 

And  love  its  Galilee." 


featurtia^  ^litt  i^t  Wm^  fe>untiap  latter  (Carter 

^|)e  Consfcratton  of  ©nt^ustaem 

Our  Lord  said  to  St.  Peter,  ''When  thou  wast  young, 
thou  girdedst  thyself,  and  walkedst  whither  thou 
wouldest."  The  Apostle  had,  only  a  little  before, 
"walked"  to  Him  out  of  the  surf,  with  his  fisher's 
frock  "girded"  about  him,  after  his  impulsive  dash 
through  the  waves.  Enthusiasm  for  his  Master  had 
made  him  as  free  as  a  boy  in  undertaking  the  adven- 
ture. But  mingled  with  the  youthful  courage  and  love 
of  his  act,  was  his  characteristic  fault,  self-assertion. 
He  had  'walked  whither  he  would.' 

Our  Lord  loved  his  fervor,  wherefore  He  planned 
to  purify  and  consecrate  it.  As  has  been  rightly  said, 
"This  ardor  was  not  useless ;  it  was  the  genuine  heat 
which,  when  plunged  into  the  chilling  disappointments 
of  life,  would  make  veritable  steel  of  Peter's  resolution." 


SAINT  JOHN  267 


Martyrdom  should  be  the  glorious  goal  of  the  ardent 
Apostle's  development.  "When  thou  shalt  be  old,"  the 
Divine  Prophet  foretold  to  him,  ''thou  shalt  stretch 
forth  thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry 
thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not."  What  though  flesh 
and  blood  would  shrink  from  the  cross !  He  would, 
nevertheless,  stretch  out  his  arms  to  embrace  it,  in 
that  day  when  he  would  give  up,  finally,  the  freedom 
of  youth  and  fervor  for  willing  slavery  to  the  Slave  of 
the  Universe.  Enthusiasm,  therefore,  in  the  young,  or 
those  of  fervent  temperament,  is  not  something  to  be 
deprecated.  It  is  one  of  the  raw  materials  out  of  which 
Jesus  makes  steadfast,  loving  servants. 

%^z  JFourtfi  fe>untia^  Mitt  (Eaisftrr 

^Ije  ©otoer  of  t\)t  Kesutrection 

It  had  not  lain  in  dear  Peter's  own  strength  to  fol- 
low Christ.  He  had  protested,  once  and  again,  that 
he  would  accompany  his  Master  to  prison  and  death, 
and  then  had  gone  on  to  deny  Him  thrice.  "Thou 
canst  not  follow  Me  now,"  Incarnate  Truth  had 
warned  him,  before  Easter ;  but  afterward,  the  Divine 
Command  was,  ''Follow  Me!"  Only  in  the  power  of 
the  Resurrection  would  he  be  able  to  drink  of  his 
Lord's  cup. 

With  the  new  life  from  the  Risen  Christ  in  his  soul, 
his  loyalty  was  in  glorious  contrast  to  his  unfaithful- 
ness before.  Then,  he  had  cringed  before  the  ridicule 
of  a  housemaid,  and  a  few  domestic  servants.  Now, 
he  stood  forth  boldly  before  the  Sanhedrin,  proud  to 
have  them  take  knowledge  that  he  had  been  with  Jesus 
(Acts  iv:  13). 

But  more  than  this  should  he  accomplish  through  the 


268  SAINT  JOHN 


grace  of  the  Resurrection.  As  Christ  by  His  Cross 
had  glorified  His  Father,  so  would  Peter  glorify  God 
by  his  death  (xvii:  i ;  xxi:  19).  Now  the  sheep  could 
follow  his  Purchaser.  "Peter  could  lay  down  his  life 
for  Christ,  since  Christ  had  laid  down  His  Life  for 
Peter."  With  that  same  mighty  help  at  hand  for  every 
one  of  us,  dare  we  be  pusillanimous  ?  Is  there  one  who 
cannot  conquer  his  besetting  sin,  and  live  true  to  his 
vocation,  through  Christ  the  Giver  of  power  (cp.  Phil. 
iv:i3)?  ^ 

d^ondap  9M\zi  tf)e  ifouttlg  &unDa?  matter  (I^a0tet 

dt*  l^eter  Detitcate0  (^io  6@emor?  to  ^i)rt0t 

St.  Peter  was  remarkable,  in  later  years,  for  the 
fidelity  with  which  he  recollected  episodes  of  his  fel- 
lowship with  our  Lord  and  applied  the  teaching  from 
them  to  practical  matters  in  his  own  life.  For  exam- 
ple, he  never  forgot  the  two  angels  which  the  holy 
women  had  seen  at  the  head  and  foot  of  the  place 
where  the  Sacred  Body  had  lain,  contemplating  the 
mystery  of  the  Resurrection  and  marvelling.  They 
desired,  he  wrote  long  afterward,  to  look  into  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  had  followed  (i 
St.  Pet.  i:  II  f.).  His  Epistle  was  written  from  prison 
to  Christians  on  the  brink  of  the  terrible  Neronic  per- 
secution. What  unspeakable  comfort  it  must  have 
been,  both  to  the  Apostle  and  those  he  addressed,  that 
they  would  have  a  privilege  denied  even  to  the  Holy 
Angels,  of  sharing  both  the  Passion  of  Christ  and  His 
Easter  glory ! 

Again,  in  his  exhortation  to  the  bishops  of  Asia 
Minor,  he  repeats  almost  the  very  words  of  Christ  to- 
him  at  the  Lakeshore  (i  St.  Pet.  v.iflF.).  He  had 
always  borne  in  mind  those  Divine  Commands  to  shep-- 


SAINT  JOHN  269 


herd  his  Lord's  lambs  and  sheep,  and  now  he  urges 
them  upon  his  fellow  **elders/'  saying,  "Tend  the  Flock 
of  God." 

Let  us  take  St.  Peter  for  our  preceptor  in  this  con- 
secration of  the  memory.  For  it  is  probable  that  we 
shall  be  judged  according  to  what  we  have  stored  in 
our  minds.  Some  day  these  ''books"  will  be  opened 
(Rev.  XX :  12).  We  must  fill  them  now  with  profitable 
thoughts  and  holy  recollections. 


^atue^tiap  mxzK  t6e  jFouctfi  ^untiap  jattec  €a0Ut 

imitation  of  Jeeue 

It  is  St.  John,  above  all  the  other  sacred  writers,  who 
shows  us  our  obligation  and  privilege  of  being  sons  of 
God  like  Jesus.  He  himself  constantly  followed  the 
model  of  Christ's  example,  even  in  details.  Thus,  his 
word  for  ''children"  (like  the  Italian  "carissimi"^ ,  in 
affectionate,  fatherly  addresses  to  his  people,  is  the 
same  as  that  which  his  Risen  Master  had  used  {y.  5 ; 
cp.  I  St.  John  ii:i8).  The  Apostle  of  Love  alone 
caught  that  beautiful  note  from  the  Voice  of  the  Easter 
Christ. 

Writing  from  the  stone-quarries  of  Patmos,  again, 
he  reveals  the  way  he  was  finding  in  his  sufferings  an 
opportunity  to  share  "in  the  Kingdom  and  patience  of 
Jesus  Christ"  (Rev.  i:  9).  None  but  he  had  witnessed 
the  bearing  of  our  Lord  before  the  high  priests  and 
Pilate  at  once  Divinely  royal  and  lamb-like  in  meek- 
ness. In  His  gift  was  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  and  thus 
His  Beloved  Disciple  learned  for  all  time  that  the 
Kingdom,  and  patience  by  which  it  may  be  won,  go 
hand  in  hand. 


270  SAINT  JOHN 


The  great  Easter  lesson  that  the  Head  of  the  Church 
is  always  in  her  midst  had  sunk  deep  into  St.  John's 
heart.  Accordingly,  he  markedly  prefers  the  words 
for  Christ's  ''coming,"  which  mean,  the  one,  "His 
Presence,"  and  the  other,  the  "Revelation"  of  His 
nearness.  To  our  saintly  Guide  the  great  Model  of 
God's  sons  is  always  present  with  the  Church,  and  will 
simply  be  manifested  visibly  at  His  Second  Advent. 
He  would  have  us  live  so  that  our  every  action  will 
bear  the  inspection  of  Emmanuel,  God  with  us. 


(lflletine0liop  mxzt  i\z  JFouttS  &untiap 
mitt  (tmtzi 

3fei8U)a  Kigen,  anU  SPental  2)i0cipline 

Dr.  Pusey  saw,  in  the  Upper  Room  locked  and 
barred  against  the  Jews,  a  symbol  of  a  soul  closed  at 
the  openings  of  the  senses  to  all  its  enemies.  Christ 
will  enter  such  a  spirit,  and  manifest  His  Risen  Life 
to  it. 

Accordingly,  the  first  step  toward  mental  discipline 
is  to  shut  out  from  our  life  the  din  and  confusion  of 
what  Matthew  Arnold  calls  "the  howling  senses."  But 
this  spiritual  privacy  only  makes  it  possible  for  us  to 
know  Jesus  Risen,  and  He  alone  establishes  intellectual 
order  within  us.  For  He  brings  light,  and  love,  and 
life,  and  these  are  the  very  conditions  of  thought  con- 
trol. How  immediately,  after  a  long  night  of  sadness, 
our  mind  was  quieted  at  break  of  day !  So  the  Christ 
of  Easter  has  shed  His  Radiance  on  our  life  and  death. 
Love,  even  of  a  human  person,  and  far  more  when 
directed  to  Christ,  guides  and  purifies  our  mind.  Just 
a  fresh  breath  of  life  lifts  us  up  from  the  dullness  of 


SAINT  JOHN  271 


desolation  or  despair ;  but  Jesus  gives  life  in  its  fulness 
and  gives  it  more  abundantly. 

For  others'  sake,  too,  let  us  conserve  our  intel- 
lectual life  for  the  Risen  Master.  Maeterlinck  says, 
"Though  you  assume  the  face  of  a  saint,  a  hero,  or  a 
martyr,  the  eye  of  the  passing  child  will  not  greet  you 
with  the  same  unapproachable  smile,  if  there  lurk  with- 
in you  an  evil  thought."  On  all  accounts,  therefore, 
we  must  love  the  Lord,  our  God,  with  all  our  mind. 

Ufiur0bap  jattet  x\t  jpourtfi  feunnap  mxtx  C^ajsttr 

dt»  3foI)n  Dfbotfli  to  €:rut^ 

So  often,  and  so  adoringly,  does  St.  John  speak  of 
Divine  Light,  that  some  have  attributed  to  him  an  even 
greater  devotion  to  this  attribute  of  God  than  to  His 
Love.  Especially  for  the  revelation  of  truth  in  and 
through  Christ,  he  had  a  jealous  care;  and  to  this 
quality  we  owe  his  giving  us  our  most  complete  de- 
scription of  Christ's  Eastertide  appearances,  both  in 
Jerusalem  and  in  Galilee. 

His  reverence  for  the  Word  of  God  led  him  also,  it 
seems,  to  add  what  is  now  the  last  chapter  to  his  Gos- 
pel. A  tradition  had  grown  up,  that  he  had  been  sin- 
gled out  by  Christ  for  a  miraculous  immunity  from 
death,  forever.  This  was  much  to  his  honor,  but  it 
was  false,  and  therefore,  happily,  he  was  moved  to 
write  an  appendix  in  order  to  disprove  it. 

But  perhaps  there  is  no  proof  of  his  regard  for 
Divine  Truth  so  convincing  as  the  special  name  he 
shared  with  his  brother.  For  Boanerges  has  come  to 
mean  to  us  'Thunderers  of  Charity,"  but,  as  our  Lord 
applied  it,  it  more  probably  signified  "Echoes  of  tht 
Word  of  God,"  since  thunder  was  thought  of  k»  re- 


272  SAINT  JOHN 


verberations  of  the  Divine  Voice.  At  no  time  in  her 
history  has  the  Church  needed  this  spirit  of  St.  John 
more  than  now,  when  the  verities  of  religion  are  so 
lightly  regarded.  He  must  teach  us  to  speak  the  truth 
in  love. 

dt  3[ot)n  80  filter  C|)ri!Stu0 

It  is  of  more  than  symbolic  significance  that,  as  Jesus 
was  Alpha  and  Omega,  John  was  the  first  and  last  of 
His  Apostles.  There  was  a  likeness  to  the  Saviour  in 
the  soul  of  the  Beloved  Disciple,  which  drew  him  to 
Christ  at  the  very  beginning,  and  made  it  appropriate 
for  him  to  remain  on  earth  after  all  the  others,  to  be  a 
living,  visible,  bond  of  love  between  the  Lord  in 
Heaven  and  His  persecuted  Church  in  the  world. 

From  his  close  association  with  his  Master,  more- 
over, his  very  vocabulary  and  modes  of  expression  be- 
came strikingly  similar  to  those  of  Jesus.  "It  is  some- 
times even  objected  to  this  Gospel,"  writes  a  learned 
modern  commentator,  "that  you  cannot  distinguish  be- 
tween the  sayings  of  the  Evangelist  and  the  sayings 
of  his  Master.  Is  there  any  other  writer  who  would 
be  in  the  smallest  danger  of  having  his  words  con- 
founded with  Christ's  ?  Is  not  this  the  strongest  proof 
that  John  was  in  perfect  sympathy  with  Jesus  ?" 

He  himself  suggests  that  it  was  because  of  his  inti- 
mate fellowship  with  our  Lord  that  he  ventured  to 
follow  also,  when  St.  Peter  was  the  one  directed  to 
follow  Christ  {w.  19  f.).  He  hoped  that  a  death  like 
his  Master's  would  be  appointed  for  him,  too,  and 
since  it  seemed  that  the  sign  of  willingness  to  give  his 


SAINT  JOHN  273 


life  was  to  fall  in  behind  his  Captain,  he  immediately 
did  so.  What  perfection  it  will  mean  in  us,  when  w« 
think  and  speak  under  the  influence  of  Jesus,  and  seek 
to  imitate  Him  both  in  our  life  and  death ! 

featuttia^  mizi  i\z  iFouttS  S)umia^  mitt  C^a^tet 

«t»  3fo|)n  abiuing 

It  is  not  only  useful,  but  essential,  that  there  should 
lie  different  dispositions  among  Christ's  disciples.  It 
was  quite  right  that  there  should  be  one  who  would 
leap  into  the  sea  and  swim  to  his  Master,  and  others 
who  would  remain  in  the  boat  and  secure  the  fish.  And 
the  Church  is  far  richer  because  some  of  her  children 
are,  like  St.  John,  disposed  to  a  life  of  thought  and 
devotion,  while  others,  with  St.  Peter,  turn  naturally 
to  intense  activity. 

The  two  Apostles  are  frequently  contrasted  in  Holy 
Writ,  but  nowhere  more  strikingly  than  at  their  first 
trial  before  the  Sanhedrin  (Acts  iv:  5-12).  St.  Peter 
argued  vigorously  and  boldly  in  their  defense,  while 
St.  John  remained  perfectly  quiet.  Many  of  the  Coun- 
cil had  been  his  friends,  but  they  now  had  come  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  For  the  first  time  the  issue  be- 
tween his  Jewish  past  and  his  Jewish  world,  and  fidel- 
ity to  Jesus,  was  fully  and  plainly  presented  to  him. 
Silently  he  met  it,  and  silently  went  out  to  give  his 
decision  life-long,  nay,  eternal,  effect. 

**St.  Peter's  was  the  martyrdom  of  death,  St.  John's 
was  the  martyrdom  of  life,"  says  Bp.  Wordsworth. 
Most  of  us  will  have  the  fate  of  the  Beloved  Disciple, 
and  we  owe  our  Lord  special  gratitude  that  along  with 

19 


274  SAINT  JOHN 


an  Apostle  who  has  shared  His  Cross,  He  has  given 
us  one  in  whom  is  reflected  the  Passion  of  His  Life. 


W^t  iFlttJ  Sunday  9iiitt  (Ka^ter 

C|)ri0t')3  IReeurrectton  SiSfSurinQ  £)ur0 

It  was  a  Divine  necessity  that  Incarnate  God  should 
rise  from  the  dead  (xx  :  9).  He  could  not  be  holden  by 
the  grave ;  His  Human  Soul  was  full  of  powerful  life 
which  was  no  sooner  imparted  to  His  Body  on  Easter 
morning  than  it  inevitably  burst  the  bonds  of  death. 
Moreover,  from  His  Humanity  this  same  irresistible 
energy  is  communicated  to  ours,  and  shall  at  His  Com- 
ing free  us  forever  from  the  grip  of  that  enemy  of 
His,  whom  at  last  He  is  to  trample  under  His  Feet 
( I  Cor.  XV :  24  ff . ) . 

We  need  fulfill  only  one  essential  condition,  and 
Christ  will  make  over  His  Easter  triumph  to  us :  We 
must  render  to  Him  in  His  Church  the  obedience  of 
love.  "Let  those  that  love  Him,"  cried  the  sacred  his- 
torian, "be  as  the  Sun  when  He  goeth  forth  in  His 
might" ;  that  is,  "splendid,  invincible,  vanquishing,  an- 
nihilating the  darkness  of  the  night  [and]  the  mists  of 
dawn"  (Jud.  v:  31).  Let  us  but  permit  Divine  Charity 
to  have  its  way  with  us,  and  an  Easter  shall  dawn, 
when  we  shall  go  forth  out  of  our  graves  in  glory  like 
the  radiance  of  the  rising  Dayspring. 

Because  of  this  sure  hope,  the  Resurrection  of  Christ 
has  absolutely  changed  the  face  of  death  to  Christian 
mourners.  For  the  conception  of  it  as  simply  the  sleep 
of  the  body,  until  its  awakening  in  the  morning  of 
Eternal  Day,  originated  in  the  Gospels  (xi:  11).  The 
first  time  it  appears,  in  the  whole  history  of  our  race, 


SAIN^    ,OHN  275 


is  in  connection  with  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen 
(Acts  vii:6o).  Indeeo,  the  very  word  "cemetery" 
originally  meant  "an  inn,"  or  "rest-house,"  and  was 
afterwards  used  for  the  burial-place  of  the  Christian 
martyrs.  Thus,  since  the  first  Easter,  the  Church  has 
understood  that  s^je  lays  her  holy  dead  in  that  dormi- 
tory of  nature  w/iich  Jesus  loved  well,  until  the  Day 
breaks,  and  they  arise  in  the  glory  and  beauty  of  im- 
mortal health.  , 

Eogation  aponliap 

Our  Saviour  has  revealed  that  we  can  glorify  God 
by  our  death  {v.  19).  We  must,  therefore,  gird  our- 
selves by  regular  prayer  for  our  last  battle  with  Satan, 
that  we  may  surely  win  it,  to  the  honor  of  "our  great 
God  and  Saviour."  "I  was  ever  a  fighter,"  once  cried 
a  brave  soul,  "one  fight  more,  the  last  and  best." 

It  is  true,  we  naturally  shrink  from  arming  to  that 
mortal  strife.  But  lack  of  preparation  does  not  post- 
pone it.  And  to  those  who  have  faithfully  borne  the 
yoke  of  Jesus,  it  is  but  one  last  obedience  to  yield  up 
our  body  into  His  Hands.  The  gladiators  met  Caesar 
with  the  shout,  "We  who  are  about  to  die  salute 
thee!"  Cannot  we  be  as  brave  and  loyal  warriors  of 
the  King  of  Love? 

Often,  and  rightly,  we  are  warned  that  Satan  will 
desire  to  wreak  upon  us  his  utmost  malice,  in  our  last 
hour.  But  there  is  another  truth  for  us  to  bear  in 
mind  for  our  encouragement.  The  Good  Shepherd 
will  also  be  at  our  bedside,  and  He  has  promised  that 
none  shall  pluck  out  of  His  Hand  the  sheep  which  has 
heard  His  Voice  and  followed  Him  (x :  27  f.).    There- 


276  SAINT  JOHN 


fore,  we  must  look  forward  to  our  death  with  holy  fear 
and  constant  prayer,  yet  with  a  firm  confidence  in  Him 
Who  shall  give  us  the  victory. 

Eoffation  ^ue0tiap 

ILobinQ  X^t  Appearing  Ct^riist 

If  we  were  asked  what  is  the  ordinary  feeling  of 
Christians  about  the  Second  Advent  of  our  Lord, 
would  we  not  be  obliged  to  confess  that  it  is  fear? 
Yet  surely  this  seems  a  mean-spirited  and  ungrateful 
attitude  toward  Jesus  Christ.  There  should  be  at  least 
some  of  the  Church's  children  who  can  say,  with  a 
great  and  tender  longing,  "Even  so,  come,  Lord 
Jesus !"  Unless  we  are  willing  that  He  should  feel 
unwelcome  in  the  world  He  has  redeemed,  we  must 
strive  to  increase  the  small  group  of  those  who  "love 
His  appearing." 

There  is  a  love  "which  casteth  out  fear,"  and  to  this 
every  Christian  must  aspire.  An  old  writer  teaches  us 
that  there  are  in  all  four  steps  upward  to  it :  First,  in 
the  unconverted,  there  is  neither  fear  nor  love.  Rising 
above  this,  the  soul  conceives  fear  without  love. 
Touched  by  Divine  Charity,  it  mounts  again,  to  a  state 
of  both  fear  and  love.  And,  finally,  it  attains  to  have 
love  without  fear.  Most  of  us  are  halting  at  the  final 
step.  Let  us  besiege  the  Heart  of  Jesus  for  the  gift 
of  perfect  charity. 

His  Own  are  not  to  shrink  from  Him  at  His  com- 
ing. The  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  shall  appear  in  the 
sky,  striking  terror  to  the  hearts  of  His  enemies.  But 
we  shall  lift  up  our  heads  at  the  sight,  in  unspeakable 
thankfulness  and  joy,  for  it  will  mean  that  our  redemp- 
tion draweth  nigh. 


SAINT  JOHN  277 


i^logatton  (121Irtine0tia^ 

St.  John's  last  word  to  us  in  his  Gospel  is  that  the 
sacred  record  contains  only  a  tiny  portion  of  the  teach- 
ing and  miracles  of  Christ.  A  complete  narrative  even 
of  His  human  Life  would  be  practically  infinite.  But 
if  His  limited  revelation  of  Himself  during  His  Min- 
istry would  fill  more  books  than  the  world  could  con- 
tain, how  endless  must  be  the  perfections  of  His  God- 
head !  Even  eternity  itself  will  be  far  too  brief  for  us 
to  see  all  the  ineffable  beauties  of  His  Wisdom  and 
Love. 

We  ought  often  to  encourage  ourselves  by  the  hope 
of  immortality.  If  there  were  no  greater  blessing  in 
store  for  us  than  once  to  have  our  Saviour  take  us  in 
His  dear  Arms  and  give  us  the  Kiss  of  Peace,  it  would 
be  worth  a  life-time  of  suffering  and  strife.  But  we 
are  to  sit  with  Him  in  His  Throne,  to  enter  into  His 
joys,  and  to  spend  eternity  united  to  Him  in  the  bond 
of  perfect  love. 

Across  the  trackless  ocean  of  the  future  there  is  a 
course  marked  out  for  us,  by  the  Footsteps  of  Him 
Whose  way  is  in  the  sea.  Let  our  hearts  only  be  set 
upon  gaining  the  Harbor  of  His  Heart,  and  all  things, 
whether  calms  or  storms,  will  work  together  for  good 
to  us. 

"One  ship  drives  east,  and  another  west, 
With  the  self-same  winds  that  blow  ; 
'Tis  the  set  of  the  sails  and  not  the  gales, 
That  tells  us  the  way  they  go. 

"  Like  the  winds  of  the  sea  are  the  winds  of  fate, 

As  we  journey  along  through  life  ; 
'Tis  the  set  of  a  soul,  that  decides  its  goal, 
And  not  the  calm  or  the  strife." 


DATE  DUE                           ! 

Ti(llfi#'ilSifirfTi"iTifiMB*Wf 

'wntiiiiiiif" 

'^"■niiiiiiinii 

BIB  h 

IWAK   U 

0  f994 

GAYLORD 

PRINTEOIN  USA. 

